How an army of farcical fakes ruined Turning Point UK's big day - 2019-02-06
How an army of farcical fakes ruined Turning Point UK's big day February 6, 2019,
The launch of the UK branch of American rightwing student organisation Turning Point USA has descended into a slapdash farce following the appearance of a swarm of parody Twitter accounts impersonating the organisation with varying degrees of success.
Since 2012, Turning Point USA has been active in university politics, opposing the spread of left-wing ideas on campuses, and targeting teachers who they suspect of harbouring an anti-conservative bias. The organisation is also notorious for its links to the Trump family, and for counting several Republican bigshots among its donors.
Turning Point UK's debut – greeted with delight by pro-Brexit Conservative MPs Jacob Rees-Mogg and Priti Patel – was kick-started on February 1 when the organisation's handle @TPointUK tweeted a video lambasting Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and calling young Britons to action against the left. About 24 hours later, a student and anti-fascist activist who goes by the name of Levi created a spoof of Turning Point's handle – @TurningPUK – and fired off a faux-outraged tweet about abortion. The person behind the account, who didn't give their full name, said they wanted to lampoon the group, which they worried could try and establish a presence in their university; but they didn't think that such a small Twitter prank would be anything more than that.