How fake news is influencing the UK election | FT

UK political parties have launched aggressive campaigns and misinformation is rife. Independent fact checker Full Fact and FT Alphaville examine how the three main parties have resorted to misleading information, from doctoring videos to dodgy data and bar charts.

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[Jonpoo]

People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.
- Otto von Bismarck

[moraymac]

What disgusts me is that Middle Eastern geopolitics has been transported into the campaign. It’s deliberate and very dangerous

[matthewmcneany]

I think drawing an equivalence between what labour have done in in this election and what the conservative have done is probably as misleading as anything the Labour party have done.


Arguing about the costing of policies is how politics have been done for decades and if the Conservatives want to argue the individual point they can release their own projections for what opening up NHS drugs markets to US pharmaceutical companies will cost (they haven't), Labour suggesting that the NHS might have to pay the same rate for drugs as US firms is at the upper end of estimates for the pricing policies but isn't a lie.

[jwilson]

Why is this coming out a week before the election? Is it enough time to spread the word of this mischief?

[Vexil]

UK Tories are following the Trump playbook.

[maddo]

Fake news is safer than true news, ask Julian Assange.

[SirSX]

A vote for the Tories means you believe that these dishonest and dishonourable tactics are acceptable. This goes beyond partisan divide; there must be some standards to be upheld.

[johndtwaldron]

Clearly Tories doing all the dodgy stuff

[nevillethomas]

The PM’s kneejerk reaction to the terror attack elicited widespread criticism, notably from the former head of the parole board, Nick Hardwick.

Hardwick told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme that suggestions of an “easy solution” to the failings leading up to the terror attack are “fundamentally mistaken”.

“Budget cuts to prisons and the probation service have made the British public less safe”, Hardwick added.

Describing his son as “angry, frustrated, selfless and stubborn”, Merritt senior said that “Jack would understand the political timing with visceral clarity”.

“He [Jack] would be seething at his death, and his life, being used to perpetuate an agenda of hate that he gave his everything fighting against”

[PhilipBaileyPB]

To stop the Tories you need to vote tactically to keep them out. There's no point voting for Labour in a seat where only the LibDems or Plaid can beat the Tories, and the opposite is obviously true, don't vote LibDem where Labour is the only party that can stop the Tory.

In Scotland, they need to remove 12 Tory MPs. Check how your constituency voted here:

[revter]

“I’ve learned that I better get used to pick between a giant douche and a turd sandwich because it’s usually the choice I’ll have.” - Stan Marsh, 2004

[alexander]

This is why never trust anything until after the exit poll

[cainsy]

Well done FT. There's some dirty deeds going on here obviously.

[shanjanusman]

Ah the corporate dictatorship kicks in

[stasikapetanos]

Labour is clearly the better party here hands down!

[MrJason]

I hope we can all agree, regardless of our political orientation or our views on the EU, that Full Fact is an organisation we can fully trust. I certainly do.

[SkyEcho]

Q: Do you think the USA are going to sell their pharmaceuticals to our NHS for LESS than they sell them on the USA market?

It isn't only pharmaceuticals that will impact our NHS it's services that are contracted out; like PFIs, building maintenance, Agency staff, elderly, disability & mental health care, catering, cleaning, portering, ambulance service, diagnostic machinery & maintenance.

It isn't the government that pays for our NHS it's taxpayers & when the burden outweighs the benefits to the majority THEN you see a USA style health provision model in the UK.

[igorpupkinable]

Loosing parties will blame Russian hackers at the end.

[tehrealfake]

An important reminder not to vote based on what a politician says they're going to do, but to predict what they might be interested in doing as well as considering their parties historical record. Also never assume anything you're seeing is from a neutral source.

[CCDR]

I hate to say it, but we need enforceable laws regarding the "facts" used by parties in political debate, and advertising, (manifesto's as well for that matter). Particularly, "numbers" should be backed up with sources that clearly reveal how an estimate was arrived at, and who produced/funded the research the number comes from. No source? Can't use it.


In an ideal world, we could have a system like drug testing in the olympics. You win a gold medal, but then test positive? Hand the medal back, and 2nd place gets it. You won an election campaign based on facts that turn out to be blatent lies? Hand back the keys to nos. 10, and 2nd place gets them.