Actor Ralf Little suspended from Twitter for mocking Tory ‘factcheck’ rebrand
Actor Ralf Little said he has been suspended from Twitter after changing his account to mimic the Conservative Party press office.
The Tories came under fire for rebranding one of their official Twitter accounts as a “fact-checking service” during ITV's leader's debate on Tuesday night.
Twitter warned that a repeat of the incident would result in “decisive corrective action”.
Royle Family actor Ralf Little changed his name to “Conservative Party Press Orifice” and the description to “Not a fact checker. Or the Conservative Press Office” during the debate on Tuesday night.
He told LBC’s James O’Brien: “Just been logged out of my Twitter account without explanation. Assume I’ve been suspended. Which is fine. But only if the @CCHQPress account is suspended for the same thing. Please continue to press the issue with Twitter in my absence.”
He was not the only verified celebrity to rebrand his account as Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker changed his account to mimic factcheckUK, as did The Thick Of It and Veep creator Armando Iannucci.
However, The Electoral Commission – the official elections watchdog – issued a warning following the incident, saying voters were entitled to expect “transparency and integrity” from campaigners.
Shadow women and equalities secretary Dawn Butler told ITV News social media firms must "do better" in order to prevent future problems.
But senior Conservative party figures have brushed off the controversy calling the move part of their "instant rebuttal".
Dominic Raab told ITV News: "We make no apologies for rebutting the nonsense that's put around."
In a statement, Twitter said: “Twitter is committed to facilitating healthy debate throughout the UK General Election.
“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.”