The Tory Party press office was warned last night by Twitter that they face ‘decisive corrective action’ if they repeat a name-change stunt they pulled during the ITV election debate.
The party re branded its Twitter feed for several hours, changing the name from CCHQPress to FactCheckUK during the debate.
The action was heavily criticised as the re branded account could have fooled potential voters that the messages praising Boris Johnson could have been coming from an independent fact checking organisation, rather than the Conservative Party.
The Conservative Party press office changed their Twitter handle to FactCheckUK ahead of tonight’s debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn
The move was described as ‘inappropriate and misleading’ by fact-checking organisation Full Fact
Former Labour Party spin doctor Alastair Campbell changed his name to Boris Johnson following the Tory Party’s move and tweeted that he was ‘lying’ about the NHS
The microblogging site warned the Conservative Party about their actions which were in breach of the company’s terms and conditions.
According to the company: ‘Twitter is committed to facilitating healthy debate throughout the UK general election.
‘We have global rules in place that prohibit behavior 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.’
The Tory Party stunt was widely criticised by fact-checking organisation Full Fact.
In a tweet, the organisation 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 such as @FullFact, @FactCheck or @FactCheckNI.’
The @CCHQpress account is verified by Twitter, displaying a blue tick which is intended to denote that a user is genuine.
Unsurprisingly, the FactCheckUK account found that Boris Johnson ‘won’ the debate with Mr Corbyn.
The Liberal Democrat press office posted an image suggesting they were reporting the account to Twitter for ‘pretending to be me or someone else’.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, pictured, was debating tonight with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on ITV in the first head-to-head meeting of the 2019 General Election
Unsurprisingly, the FactCheckUK verdict was Boris Johnson was the ‘clear winner’
Jeremy Corbyn, pictured, faced Boris Johnson tonight in the head-to-head debate on ITV
They tweeted: ‘And people wonder why trust in politics has been eroded @CCHQPress’.
Labour’s David Lammy tweeted: ‘The Conservative Party press office @CCHQPress rebranding themselves as “FactCheckUK” shows what disdain this party and this government has for the truth.
‘The Electoral Commission must investigate and punish this blatant attempt to decieve the public.’
Meanwhile, some other Twitter users also changed their display names to factcheckUK and posted critical comments about Mr Johnson.
Others changed their display name CCHQ Press Office, while Tony Blair’s former spokesperson Alastair Campbell changed his display name to Boris Johnson and tweeted: “I won’t get Brexit done £FactCheck”
The Conservative Party has been contacted for comment.
MailOnline has also contacted Twitter for a comment.
