Editorials

What Annoyed the Internet This Week?

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30 October 2017

By Bronwen

This week we were all annoyed by a spoof Wetherspoons account that managed to convince people that the pub and restaurant chain banned poppies in its establishments.

From real ales to locally sourced ingredients, Spoons couldn’t be more British if it tried. That’s why it’s so hard to believe that so many people fell for #PoppyGate. If you’re fairly active on Twitter, you will have come across @Wetherspoon_UK a ‘parody’ account of @jdwtweet– the official Wetherspoons Twitter account.

In a similar way to Limmy, the sole purpose of this account is to bully people and spread vicious lies about Wetherspoons. The account owner, ‘Tom’, replies to tweets directed at the official Wetherspoons account with abusive and sometimes cruel messages.

https://twitter.com/Wetherspoon_UK/status/924598095144419328

https://twitter.com/Wetherspoon_UK/status/924380184987553792

https://twitter.com/Wetherspoon_UK/status/924197786433806337

With over 25,000 followers, the account has a huge audience and the real Wetherspoons isn’t too thrilled about this parody account. The worst of the whole situation came on the 23rd of October, with the beginning of #PoppyGate. In what looks like an attempt to cause racial divide, the account tweeted this:

https://twitter.com/Wetherspoon_UK/status/922399845633191938

Of course, the British nationalist side of Twitter was very quick to react, calling for boycotts of Wetherspoons and claiming that our country has been stolen.

https://twitter.com/Michael21136947/status/923625835600465920

Some people tried to express their disgust in a less offensive way.

https://twitter.com/jdwtweet/status/923534019026980865

Despite Wetherspoons stating very clearly that the tweet was posted by a “spoof site”, some people were still reluctant to accept they had been fooled.

https://twitter.com/jdwtweet/status/923540909362503680

This account needs to be taken down as soon as possible. As well as causing damage to the reputation of Wetherspoons, it is stirring up racist and anti-Muslim bigotry by sporting the popular tabloid narrative that wearing a poppy is becoming socially unacceptable. The concept of the account is malicious and the complete opposite of what a ‘parody account’ should be.

 

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