Twitter says UK PM Johnson's party misled public with "factcheck" account

Twitter said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party misled the public by changing the name of one of its Twitter accounts to make it look like a fact-checking service during a televised election debate. The Conservative Campaign Headquarters press office account, followed by nearly 76,000 users, changed its name to "factcheckUK" from its usual 'CCHQPress' and switched its avatar to a white tick against a purple background.

Twitter said it would take "decisive corrective action" if a similar stunt was attempted again, the BBC reported on Wednesday. "Twitter is committed to facilitating healthy debate throughout the UK general election," a Twitter spokesperson was quoted as saying.

"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."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)