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BRITAIN-POLITICS-VOTE-INTERNET-TWITTER
UK Conservatives defend Twitter ‘factcheck’ in election debate
LONDON, Nov 20, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Britain’s governing Conservatives on
Wednesday robustly defended their decision to temporarily rename their
Twitter account “factcheckUK” during a TV election debate, despite criticism
from the social media network itself.
Foreign minister Dominic Raab said the move to rebrand the @CCHQPress
account during Tuesday’s prime-time event was part of the “cut and thrust” of
social media.
The move sparked condemnation from one fact check agency and political
rivals, while Twitter warned any repetition in the future would lead to
“decisive corrective action”.
Social media is one of the key battlegrounds ahead of the December 12
general election, which is dominated by Britain’s prolonged departure from
the European Union.
During Tuesday’s debate, the first between Conservative Prime Minister
Boris Johnson and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, the rebranded Tory Twitter
account began firing off real-time rebuttals to Corbyn’s claims.
In a BBC interview, Raab defended the strategy, saying it was a way of
providing “really good, instant rebuttal” to Labour’s “nonsense”.
He noted that the words CCHQ were underneath the factcheckUK brand,
insisting: “No-one who looked at it for more than a split second would have
been fooled.”
Questions have been raised about misleading claims in this election,
however, particularly given Johnson’s own personal elastic relationship with
the truth.
Asked about whether voters would be concerned, Raab said he had been out
campaigning and “no-one gives a toss about the social media cut and thrust”.
– Trump, Putin playbook –
A spokeswoman for Twitter said it was committed to facilitating “healthy
debate” during the election.
“We have global rules in place that prohibit behaviour that can mislead
people, including those with verified accounts,” she said.
“Any further attempts to mislead people by editing verified profile
information — in a manner seen during the UK election debate — will result
in decisive corrective action.”
Britain’s independent fact-checking charity Full Fact said it was
“inappropriate and misleading” for a political party press office to take on
the moniker of a fact-checking site.
“They weren’t putting out accurate information, they were putting out
party lines, unlike a serious fact-checker giving sources,” chief executive
Will Moy told BBC radio.
Labour MP David Lammy said it showed “what disdain this party and this
government has for the truth”.
He said: “The Electoral Commission must investigate and punish this
blatant attempt to deceive the public.”
Tom Brake, of the smaller Liberal Democrats, said the tactic was “straight
out of Donald Trump or Putin’s playbook”.
“The Tories are now resorting to deliberately misleading the public,” he
added.
The Conservatives have previously been accused of putting out a
misleading, edited video about Labour’s Brexit policy.
BSS/AFP/RY/1525 hrs