The Tories just used a disinformation trick that deserves to get them banned from Twitter

The Conservative Party’s press office convincingly pretended to be a fact-checker on Twitter tonight, posting fake fact-checks nearly every minute of the ITV debate. There’s no other way to introduce a piece of news that’s this dire, nor to announce something so depressing for democracy. The party took their account @CCHQPress – a verified account for the Conservative Campaign Headquarters press office – and awarded it the name “factcheckUK”, using a new profile picture, new header, and branded videos and GIFs to make it resemble a third-party organisation. It made no reference to the Conservative Party other than the handle’s opaque acronym.