Conservative Party used disinformation ‘with new level of impunity’ during 2019 general election, King’s College London report finds

The Conservative Party used disinformation tactics with a “new level of impunity” during last year’s general election, a report has found.

Researchers from King’s College London warned that the campaign had risked undermining public trust during the coronavirus pandemic.

Their report said Tories had “employed overt disinformation” to secure votes, such as by altering a video of Sir Keir Starmer and posing as a fact-checker on Twitter during a leaders’ debate.

“Even if some of these tactics are not novel, the impunity with which they were employed appears new, at least in the UK,” it added.