THE Conservatives have come under fire after the party's press office Twitter account rebranded as "factcheckUK" during last night's ITV election debate.
During the head-to-head between Boris Johnson and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, the account's display name and profile picture were changed to resemble an online fact checking service. The username @CCHQ remained the same and the accounts bio read: "Fact checking Labour from CCHQ."
Under the new name, the account posted pro-Conservative material.
Charity Full Fact attacked the move, accusing the party of "misleading" the public.
It said: “It is inappropriate and misleading for the Conservative press office to rename their Twitter account ‘factcheckUK’ during this debate. Please do not mistake it for an independent fact checking service.”
"No-one gives a toss about the social media cut and thrust"
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) November 20, 2019
Conservative Dominic Raab defends rebrand of party Twitter account as 'factcheckUK' during TV debate, calling it an "instant rebuttal mechanism" for "nonsense put around by Labour"https://t.co/HVs6HmvGvr #bbcbreakfast pic.twitter.com/4ZrIwVn8iX
The Twitter platform also said further similar behaviour would be met by "decisive corrective action".
This morning, the Foreign Secretary appeared on BBC Breakfast to discuss the debate and was challenged on his party's move.
Dominic Raab called the stunt an "instant rebuttal mechanism" to "nonsense put around by Labour".
He added: "No-one gives a toss about the social media cut and thrust."
Many Twitter users also changed their profile pictures and display names to appear as the factcheckUK account last night, with Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker posting: "We have always been at war with Eastasia". The comment is a reference to George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984.
We have always been at war with Eastasia.
— factcheckUK (@charltonbrooker) November 19, 2019
The "facts" put out by the CCHQ account included promotion of Johnson's "great deal" and a declaration that the Tory leader had won the debate.
About 20 minutes after the debate concluded the account, which has more than 76,000 followers, switched back to its usual appearance which features the CCHQ Press display name and Conservative profile photo.
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