UK’S Conservatives under fire for Twitter deception
LONDON: Britain’s Conservative Party was accused on Wednesday of trying to deceive voters by changing the name of its press office Twitter account to “factcheckuk” during a televised election debate between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Rebranded to resemble a neutral fact-checking account complete with a big check mark, it posted a series of tweets supporting Johnson during Tuesday’s debate. It later reverted to the name “CCHQ Press” and restored the party logo to its profile.
Organizations that seek to combat political misinformation cried foul. “It was an attempt to mislead voters,’’ Will Moy, chief executive of the London-based fact-checking website Full Fact, told the BBC.
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab defended the party’s actions, saying the Twitter account was clearly linked to the Conservatives. “We make no apology for having an instant rebuttal to all the nonsense and lies put out,” Raab told the BBC.
Twitter pledged to take “decisive corrective action” if there were any more attempts “to mislead people by editing verified profile information.”
LABOUR LOSES SUPPORT AMONG UK INDIANS
Labour, for long the natural party of British Indians, is haemorrhaging support among the 1.5 million strong community, said a poll by India Inc media group and data analytics firm 0ptimus. It showed a 12- point fall for Labour among UK Indians since the 2017 election. Most of those surveyed dislike both Corbyn and Johnson.
More British Indians believe that Uk-india relations would worsen under Corbyn than under Johnson, and 47% believe the UK should do more to improve bilateral trade and investment.