Twitter Issues ‘Please Explain’ To The Libs Over A Faked Copyright Claim

This story is focussing on #3, ’cause Twitter are investigating the Liberal party over a pretty dang audacious claim made by O’Dwyer’s camp. 

According to Twitter, the Victorian Libs‘ apparent social media adviser had beef with @Kelly_dnuSophie, a parody account that compared O’Dwyer’s campaign to that of Sophie Mirabella, who famously failed to win the seat of Indi in 2013 – and lorded her defeat over the constituents’ heads. 

In an attempt to have that naughty, naughty joke account struck from the interwebs, that social media adviser launched a copyright claim to Twitter, stating @Kenny_dnuSophie was using images owned by O’Dwyer. Long story short, the account was locked, ’til it was found the majority of the shots were actually owned by Fairfax Media.

Welp, it’s back now, and Twitter have made a bit of a stink about the hubbub. They’ve asked the Victorian Libs to explain why, exactly, they attempted to strike down the (200ish-follower strong) account with a copyright claim that turned out to be largely bogus. Fairfax also learned Twitter has “requested additional information from the reporting party.”

FWIW, while it’s looking super unlikely the seat will be handed over to another party, the Greens are making their presence known with candidate Jason Ball, who may just pip Labor’s Carl Katter. Despite both of ’em still trailing, the pressure may have just been enough for someone in O’Dwyer’s circle to nuke a miniscule joke account. Elections. Mad, huh?

Correction: a previous version of this article stated Twitter had made an announcement regarding their request for more information from the Victorian Liberal Party. This is not the case, as Twitter doesn’t make public comments on individual cases.