Thread by @swardley

X : Have you seen #factcheckUK ?
Me : I'm aware of accusations that the Conservative party changed the display name of its social media account to this. Such actions go far beyond propaganda and into disinformation and deception. It questions the values of organisation ...

i.e. it would not be a simple case of spinning news anymore or being economical with the truth. Such an action crosses a line into deliberate deception. No political party should ever cross that line, it's more what you would expect from organised crime.

Unfortunately, it doesn't stop there. The real threat is whether such actions were taken deliberately to cause #outrage. In which case, we're now talking about psychological manipulation and these are crafts of war, not suited to political discourse ...

... the response should be to simply raise awareness, to not get outraged and to ignore it. However, after the election this should be investigated. If such techniques have been used and are not criminal then a Royal Commission maybe necessary.

X : The #factcheckUK will just blow over.
Me : Maybe. But it strikes at something very core, the basic values of reciprocity and respect in society i.e. to treat others as you would be treated. It sets a new norm that deception is ok ... no, it's not ...

... there's something very disturbing about Boris' campaign, it's that willingness to tell whoppers (as @DominicGrieve1 said -

https://twitter.com/brexit_sham/status/1194708913523965952

) ... it's almost like an arrogant schoolboy attitude that the ends justify the means - no, they don't.

It might not seem much but if the future of political debate is whoppers, insincerity and being elastic with the truth ... you might as well give up on democracy as there is nothing to debate. This is what Boris is representing, an absence of truth. That is very uncomfortable ...

... I might not agree with the Conservative Party on many things but I used to have respect for it. The current declarations of being "one nation tories" are so empty to be farcical.

Going forward, they need to appoint someone like @DominicGrieve1 to lead the party.

I do find this topic difficult because many of my friends are Conservatives and I've even happily worked with Conservatives in the past but this, the same with the debates, the same with recent discussions is .... bring back #May or #Cameron or someone with a bit of integrity.

X : What do you think twitter should do?
Me : Tricky. I personally view that #factcheckUK was a deliberate effort to mislead or worse to cause outrage. I'm sure some would be infuriated if twitter banned @CCHQPress but ... well, someone has to take a stand at some point.

I do however think that Twitter's response of “decisive corrective action” if it happens again is probably the right balance for now. A warning shot is a reasonable reply in this case.