Comedy actor Ralf Little has had his Twitter account suspended after changing his page in a nod to the Conservatives’ “rebrand” during last night’s leadership debate.
Ralf – best known for his roles in The Royle Family and Two Pints Of Lager – changed his name on the social media site to “Conservative Press Office”, while removing his photo and replacing it with the party’s logo.
This was a nod to the Tories changing one of their verified accounts into a supposed “fact-checking service” during the debate (a move they reversed once it’s over), which was heavily criticised.
Shortly after making the change, a message posted on LBC broadcaster James O’Brien’s Twitter page read: “A message from @RalfLittle… 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.”
He added: “Please continue to press the issue with twitter in my absence.”
The Conservatives’ account remains intact, but Twitter has warned that a repeat of the incident would result in “decisive corrective action”.
Four hours after his account was locked, Ralf revealed that it had been reinstated, sharing his experience in a thread:
Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker also rebranded his Twitter account to “factcheckUK”, though at the time of writing, his page remains active.
Twitter previously said of the matter: “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.”