Twitter says Conservatives misled public, minister says voters 'don't give a toss'

[snoop1130]

Twitter says Conservatives misled public, minister says voters 'don't give a toss'

By Estelle Shirbon

 

Conservative leader Boris Johnson speaks during a televised debate with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn ahead of general election in London, Britain, November 19, 2019. Jonathan Hordle/ITV/Handout via REUTERS

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Twitter accused Britain’s ruling Conservative Party on Wednesday of misleading the public during a televised election debate, but Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said voters did not care about the cut and thrust of social media.

 

Twitter spoke out after the Conservative Campaign Headquarters press office changed the name of its account from “CCHQPress” to “factcheckUK” while Prime Minister Boris Johnson was debating Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Tuesday night.

 

With its avatar changed to a white tick against a purple background instead of the party’s traditional blue branding, the account, which is followed by 76,000 users, issued tweets supporting Johnson and criticising Corbyn.

 

Quizzed about the stunt on BBC television on Wednesday morning, Raab said he disagreed with Twitter’s criticism that the tactic was misleading, and said voters didn’t care anyway.

 

“I knock on doors every day,” he said. “No one gives a toss about the social media cut and thrust. What they care about is the substance of the issues, and of course there’s a huge amount of scepticism about the claims of all politicians.”

 

Raab said the aim of the Conservative campaign was to rebut what he described as “nonsense” put out by Labour. “It matters that we have an instant rebuttal,” he said.

 

Asked why his party needed to dress up its rebuttals as independent fact-checking, he said: “Because we want to make it clear that we’re holding Labour to account for the nonsense that they systematically and serially put out in relation to Conservatives.”

 

Labour said what the Conservative press office had done was a “scam” that showed the party could not be trusted in government.

 

“CORRECTIVE ACTION”

 

Twitter issued a statement saying it would take action if anyone tried a similar stunt again.

 

“Twitter is committed to facilitating healthy debate throughout the UK general election,” a Twitter spokeswoman said.

 

“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.”

 

Full Fact, a genuine fact-checking charity, also criticised the Conservative tactic.

 

“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,” it said.

 

Raab was dismissive of the charity. “Who said Full Fact is the final arbiter of what the public get to see?” he asked during his BBC interview. “Doesn’t sound to me like they like the competition.”

 

During the debate, the disputed Twitter account’s description, which featured under the “factcheckUK” name in much smaller script, was “Fact Checking Labour from CCHQ”. Raab said this meant anyone who looked at the account properly would have understood what it was.

 

After the debate finished the account reverted to its regular Conservative Party branding.

 

Prior to the controversy, Twitter had pledged to make it easier to report misleading information about the voting process in Britain’s Dec. 12 election.

 

Twitter said last month it would stop all political advertising, making the British election one of the first major tests for the new policy.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-11-20

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[stevenl]

Of course it is misleading, which is why they did it. Pretending to be something they are not.

[Bluespunk]

25 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Asked why his party needed to dress up its rebuttals as independent fact-checking, he said: “Because we want to make it clear that we’re holding Labour to account for the nonsense that they systematically and serially put out in relation to Conservatives.”

liar.

[smedly]

and who is twitter ?

 

why are they even getting involved in this nonsense 

 

hmmmmm

[steve187]

is that mr or mrs twitter

[stevenl]

4 hours ago, smedly said:

and who is twitter ?

 

why are they even getting involved in this nonsense 

 

hmmmmm

Twitter is the medium used for this deception, so they are involved and have to stop it.

[JonnyF]

I am a voter, and I can confirm I do not give a toss.

[Rookiescot]

1 hour ago, JonnyF said:

I am a voter, and I can confirm I do not give a toss.

What if it had been the Labour party which had pulled off this stunt?

Would you still not give a toss?

[Baerboxer]

18 hours ago, stevenl said:

Of course it is misleading, which is why they did it. Pretending to be something they are not.

 

Just like Jeremy with the plethora of social media "news sights" campaigning on his behalf and pretending he's really a very nice man. 

[Baerboxer]

3 hours ago, Rookiescot said:

What if it had been the Labour party which had pulled off this stunt?

Would you still not give a toss?

 

No. They are already doing this with many social media sites, with news or academic sounding names, issuing their propaganda mostly about what a kind caring patriot Jeremy really is.

 

Anyone dumb enough to believe any of this blatant propaganda deserves the government they get. Personal research has never been easier.

[rudi49jr]

18 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

minister says voters 'don't give a toss'

Just look at what BJ gets away with, just look at what Trump gets away with, just look at what Erdogan, Bolsonaro, Orban and the likes get away with: it’s pretty obvious that many voters don’t care about facts any more, and they really don’t give a toss what their ‘heroes’ say or do. 

[rudi49jr]

2 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

Personal research has never been easier.

Depends where you get your ‘facts’, though .....

[stevenl]

32 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Just like Jeremy with the plethora of social media "news sights" campaigning on his behalf and pretending he's really a very nice man. 

No, not the same.

 

This was conservative party pretending to be an independent fact checker. Deception.

[BobBKK]

I'm a Brit and I don't give a toss! 

[BobBKK]

3 hours ago, Rookiescot said:

What if it had been the Labour party which had pulled off this stunt?

Would you still not give a toss?

They do much worse - so, yes, we don't give a toss.

[JonnyF]

3 hours ago, Rookiescot said:

What if it had been the Labour party which had pulled off this stunt?

Would you still not give a toss?

Correct, I would still not give a toss.

 

Their antisemitism bothers me though.

[Baerboxer]

33 minutes ago, rudi49jr said:

Depends where you get your ‘facts’, though .....

 

Part of research is researching the credibility of sources and judgement

[Baerboxer]

16 minutes ago, stevenl said:

No, not the same.

 

This was conservative party pretending to be an independent fact checker. Deception.

 

Go on social media and see just how many sites you can find that lean substantially to Jeremy; and then check the site out.

 

Same same but different. 

 

The PR propaganda for Jeremy is intensifying. And the  sites ain't unbiased, nor or they disconnected from Labour.

[stevenl]

1 minute ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Go on social media and see just how many sites you can find that lean substantially to Jeremy; and then check the site out.

 

Same same but different. 

 

The PR propaganda for Jeremy is intensifying. And the  sites ain't unbiased, nor or they disconnected from Labour.

Again, totally not the same. Sad you don't see the difference.

[RuamRudy]

22 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Correct, I would still not give a toss.

 

Their antisemitism bothers me though.

Are you equally as exercised about the rampant islamophobia in the Conservative party?

[zoza]

50 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

No. They are already doing this with many social media sites, with news or academic sounding names, issuing their propaganda mostly about what a kind caring patriot Jeremy really is.

 

Anyone dumb enough to believe any of this blatant propaganda deserves the government they get. Personal research has never been easier.

bori

 

52 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

No. They are already doing this with many social media sites, with news or academic sounding names, issuing their propaganda mostly about what a kind caring patriot Jeremy really is.

 

Anyone dumb enough to believe any of this blatant propaganda deserves the government they get. Personal research has never been easier.

dumb and believing BIG FAT Boris....god help us

 

[dunroaming]

8 hours ago, JonnyF said:

I am a voter, and I can confirm I do not give a toss.

I am a voter and I am disgusted by it.  Not surprised one little bit though as these liars and conmen continue hoodwinking the naïve.  They think we are all too thick to see it, such is their "respect" for the general public.

[bizboi]

I am a voter and i dont care one iota - as long as Steptoe Corbyn doesnt get into power through his fake promises to students and extreme left wing agenda  not to mention his lies about broad band which he could never deliver as it is against the EU’s Government interference policy!!- Corbyn would be a disaster - Boris is by far the lesser of two evils -

[evadgib]

Speaking of bias in the general election how can this be right when the bloke bellowing "STOPPP BREXXXIIITTTT!" outside Parliament for so long that media outlets had to switch to boom mics in order to drown his din is now running as a candidate in his own right while the woman in these links gets shafted for calling Soubry a traitor?

 

Woman guilty of harassment offences

 

MP candidate found guilty of harassing Anna Soubry

 

Scriptwriters for 'the thick of it' etc would struggle to make this up! ????

[Sujo]

3 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Part of research is researching the credibility of sources and judgement

Well thats the problem isnt it. People are too busy getting on with life to be interested in politics. They just get a soundbite they like and go with that.

 

US is proof of that.

[Rookiescot]

4 hours ago, JonnyF said:

Correct, I would still not give a toss.

 

Their antisemitism bothers me though.

Evidence for antisemitism?

Its the same with accusations of anti muslim sentiment within the Conservatives.

All we get is accusations. Very little in the way of evidence. Occasionally a tweet or something from years ago will come to light posted by an individual within one of the parties but that hardly proves any inherent or widespread problem within either of the parties. 

[stevenl]

10 minutes ago, rhyddid said:

Conservative and Brexiter leaders have mislead and lied to the people so many time that it become countless, i am glad that they will win the election and bring UK to a financial disaster after a very bad way to handle it, so guinness pint voters will once be forced to admit how have been fooled ! 

There will be other excuses then.

[meltingpot2015]

lied in parliament, lied to the queen, continuously lies to the public...he is truly an expert at lying.

[meltingpot2015]

On 11/21/2019 at 9:44 AM, Rookiescot said:

What if it had been the Labour party which had pulled off this stunt?

Would you still not give a toss?

They'd be furiously toss*ng-off (Conservative party being full of toss*rs as it is) 

 

p.s. I realise 'to give a toss' is derived from tossing a coin, not the act of spanking the monkey.