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Twitter warns Conservatives after 'factcheckUK' rebrand stunt

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By John Glenday, Reporter

November 20, 2019 | 2 min read

The Conservatives Party has been rebuked by Twitter after openly goading its political rivals with a rebrand of its official press account as ‘factcheckUK’ for the duration of last night’s ITV leadership debate.

Conservatives

Twitter turns on Tory trickery after ‘factcheckUK’ stunt

The stunt during the head-to-head between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn drew the ire of Twitter users and journalists who slammed it for being misleading, and now the social platform has warned it will take "decisive corrective action" if the party tries to pull the trick again.

While the two leaders debated topics such as the importance of telling the truth in politics, the Conservatives' CCHQPress account – restyled as a the neutral-sounding 'facecheckUK' – was posting rebuttals to Corbyn's pronouncements accompanied by an official-looking purple tick graphic.

In a statement to the BBC, a Twitter spokesperson said: "Twitter is committed to facilitating healthy debate throughout the UK general election. We have global rules in place that prohibit behaviour that can mislead people, including those with verified accounts.

"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."

Fact-checking has become a hot button issue amid growing concern over the spread of fake news online, prompting the likes of YouTube to issue their own fact-checking tools.

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