Fake news: Tories create X account to plant stories in Welsh media
Emily Price
The Conservative Senedd group has created an anonymous social media account to attack the Welsh Government and plant stories in the media, Nation.Cymru has been told.
The ‘Waste Watch Wales’ account was launched on X in January shortly after Darren Millar took over the post of Welsh Conservative leader following a coup by MSs that brought down Andrew RT Davies.
Nation.Cymru began monitoring the anonymous account after it followed us on X.
The sock puppet account shares information obtained through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests submitted to the Welsh Government on things like NHS spending and transport projects.
It has been heavily critical of Wales’ anti-racist policies and diversity and inclusion spending – including funding received by the Race Council Cymru and cash spent to develop female leaders.
Waste Watch Wales’ content is regularly shared by Darren Millar and several other Tory MSs.
Its content has also been championed by several Reform UK councillors and supporters.
The account’s bio states its aim is to expose the Welsh Government’s “wasteful” spending because “taxpayers deserve full transparency”.
In February, Waste Watch Wales published a post hitting out at a “woke” exhibit on show at Cardiff National Museum.
Within two hours, the Senedd’s Conservative group office sent us a press release claiming that, “concerns have been raised over the National Museum in Cardiff spending taxpayers’ money on ‘woke exhibitions'”
The press release included a link to Waste Watch Wales’ X post.
Culture wars
We noticed that the post had been re-shared by only two accounts – the Welsh Conservatives’ official X account and Darren Millar’s Chief of Staff, David TC Davies.
The Tory press release also included the same three pictures posted to X by Waste Watch Wales.
We checked through the account and noticed that the first ever post announcing its launch was re-posted immediately by the official Welsh Conservative X account.
Nation.Cymru also noted that the Waste Watch Wales account appeared to be favouring the same stock images of Welsh ministers that are regularly used by the Welsh Conservatives on the group’s social media channels.
Faceless
Several Tory sources later told to us that Waste Watch Wales was being run by the Welsh Conservatives themselves under the supervision of former Welsh Secretary, David TC Davies.
One Conservative insider lambasted the account saying they felt that some of the content being posted was “the same culture war nonsense” that the former Welsh Secretary had championed when he was a Member of Parliament.
David TC Davies lost his seat in the general election last year along with all of Wales’ Conservative MPs.
Another Conservative source told us that the anonymity of the account allowed the Welsh Conservatives to be “a little more mischievous” with the sort of FOIs they submitted to the Welsh Government.
We made the Welsh Government aware of our findings.
Labour backbencher and former Welsh Government minister Lee Waters said: “I’m not sure why having led a General Election campaign, which led to a loss of every single one of their seats, the Tory Senedd Members think the political savvy of David TC Davies is worth listening to.
“And the irony is clearly lost on him that spending his tax-payer funded time on submitting costly FOI requests to feed a social media account with 900 followers is a sterling example of wasteful spending.”
We asked the Welsh Conservative Senedd group office a number of questions:
*Why are you using an anonymous account from within the Senedd to share information deceptively?
*Why not just post directly to the Welsh Conservatives official social media channels?
*Why don’t you want anyone to know that Waste Watch Wales is being run by the Welsh Conservatives?
*The bio of the Waste Watch Wales account states that “taxpayers deserve full transparency” – Do you think it’s transparent for a the Welsh Conservatives to use a nameless social media account to plant stories in the press?
Anonymous
A Welsh Conservative spokesperson said: “Waste Watch Wales is not an official Conservative Party Account, and is not run by the Group Office.”
We told the Tory group office that we had spoken to several Conservative insiders who say that they have been told directly that the account was being run by the Welsh Conservatives.
We asked the Tory group office:
*Can you please confirm that the group office has no knowledge of who is running or contributing to the Waste Watch Wales account and that it is not being run by any Conservative staffer or MS, and that David TC Davies has never had any input in it nor has any knowledge of who contributes to it?
A Welsh Conservative spokesperson said: “David TC Davies does not run the Waste Watch Wales account, but many people know who does and that person wishes to remain anonymous.
“The X account does good work holding the Welsh Government to account.”
The Welsh Government was invited to comment.
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God is watching Rev Millar and she is not impressed…
This is a very disturbing and deeply unpleasant discovery. There should be repercussions for all those involved.
Why don’t these pathetic has been tory’s crawl back under the rock they came from . Disgraceful behaviour.
Perhaps they’ll investigate the waste caused by the Welsh Gov not having a VIP lane during COVID which resulted in an unexpected PPE underspend of £150m being clawed back by an embarrassed Whitehall.
It’d be interesting to know what each nation spent per capita on COVID PPE. Who knows, maybe the VIP lanes did deliver the best value for money and everyone should run them.
This the Darren Millar that went to worship at the feet of a convicted felon and abuser and who is a self confessed sexual abuser that cheated on his wife with a a porn star then tried to bribe the porn star and let loose a nazi saluting holocaust denier who also called a decorated US vet a traitor?
(I didn’t make any of that up, come on Cons, where are your morals)
Excellent detective work guys – i wonder if it’s them (or reform) who are behind the ‘Doge Wales’ account that was set up on X last month?
Is anyone who doesn’t share Tommy Robinson’s brand of politics still on X?
This seems to suggest that the Conservative party, in Wales at least, is now opting to adopt a Trumpish style of politicking.
I was, very long ago in the party’s saner days, a Conservative supporter. They can’t now look for support from me, and, come next year’s Senedd election campaign, I’ll be making that pungently clear to any Tory canvasser who might ring my door-bell.
Kemi went for a chat with Vance. And other far right in the Us before trump win. The heritage foundation etc. leaves its stink all over this. People should have realised when they did not call out musk.
They’ve always been a deeply unhappy alliance of the centre right conservatives and the libertarian Tory anarchists. Johnson put a stop to that with his purge of the moderates.
Sound point. When I was a Tory supporter the former were in absolute ascendance, and the latter were the small if distinctly noisy ‘Monday Club’ brigade. Even though I’m no longer really the Tory supporter that I once was, ten years ago I’d have been highly likely to vote for Tory MPs like Dominic Grieve and Alistair Burt if I lived in their constituencies, simply because they brought integrity, expertise and reliable rational sense to their role in the Commons. But now they’re out of parliament and out of the party. And it’s been a gradual process: one former Tory… Read more »
Waist Watch Wales; TC and the Rev, the long and the short of Unicorn Horns…
You get what you deserve. Comments on here on the what is a woman question were all into the Tories. They are and always will be the anti anyone not a white old man. Conserving the bad times, not improving anything, especially for females. Creating a Trumpian outlook
So what? What does it matter who’s behind the account if they’re telling the truth? Otherwise it sounds like playing the man, not the ball.
It’s meant to be the job of journalists to uncover this sort of wastage and abuse. No wonder Wales is getting steadily poorer under Labour’s watch when this sort of profligacy goes on without them ever being held to account.
Er but they arent ‘telling the truth’….the article makes that clear if you actually read it. They are using a sock puppet account to spread fake news….that you apparently cant see anything wrong with that speaks volumes.
What have they said that is fake? The article doesn’t mention any example of that.
Are they telling the truth? Or is it just taking a leaf out of the Trump playbook, tell enough lies and some people will swallow them without question.
More fool them for being on social media.
If it’s so innocent, then why are the Tories hiding behind this fictitious pseudonym?
A cowardly way of doing business but they’re not called Toxic Tories for nothing. Be honest, open and upfront with criticisms, but they hide behind anonymity to fight their culture wars.
Waste Watch Wales! Myn uffarn ni! The very same week we hear from the Covid Inquiry that the Tories funnelled hundreds of millions to their mates for dodgy PPE deals—gowns that probably fell apart faster than their moral compass! And who was sat there, watching it all unfold, saying nothing? Smug David Davies, of course—back then, just another Tory MP keeping his mouth shut and his mates happy. Now, don’t get me wrong—governments could always be more efficient. Most big organisations could. I was talking to my mate who works for Amazon about it last week. But at least Welsh… Read more »
What they are reporting is accurate. They are not fake news. These accounts wouldn’t get traction if there weren’t a gap in the market for non-leftist journalism in Wales.
Why doesn’t this site expose controversial spending on the bureaucracy and its left wing ideological schemes? It’s easy enough to do. We can but guess.
“Right” is very wrong but “Left” is always right ! You must grasp that fundamental political “truth” or all else is just a confused jumble !
Can we all play Scrabble, your new Mate has just spotted the Fat Shanks Particle as it enters the brain cell….
Dealing in FACTS, Martin Shipman and others have dished it out left right and centre without fear or favour on the Nation.Cymru site. Perhaps you only see what you want to see.
As most of the mainstream media in the UK is in the pockets of the right and far right you obviously don’t have a clue what you are talking about Tory boy.
So they’re publicising facts from freedom of information requests.
What part of that is fake news?!
If not fake news. Why then are they creating shady accounts rather than being open about who they are?
They are shady people who are used by even shadier people…
New terminology needed, left and right , left right, left right, jump !
Would you get into a lifeboat with any of them…
Can’t mention lifeboats or ‘shadow fleets’…
Facts can be twisted. David TC Davies is built like a corkscrew.
Is this really any different to the Wales Tourism Alliance?
Yes, criticise the Welsh Labour government for its waste, lack of ambition and failure to stand up for Wales. But do it in the open not using a fake accounts spreading misinformation and disinformation as seen when English Tory MPs aided & abetted by treacherous failures Andrew RT Davies & Darren Millar used X & Facebook to lie about the 20 mph blanket ban resulting in their supporters damaging signs putting lives at risk and costing local authorities thousands to replace. This is how low the English Conservative party in the Senedd will go, not Welsh by the way ,… Read more »
“A Welsh Conservative spokesperson said: “David TC Davies does not run the Waste Watch Wales account, but many people know who does and that person wishes to remain anonymous.”
Well, hardly anonymous if so many people know who it is.
The truth will out, just not from this lot.
Where is ARTD’s handler these days? Is it him? The councillor from the vale?
This is something Reform would do.
I’ve read a few of these FOI responses. It’s fact not fake. I’d also rather be accurately informed around suspicions of waste but plenty of money for Welsh labours’ often niche & indulgent priorities and many know full well how infrequent their priorities align with Welsh citizens’. Talk about shooting the messenger and ignoring the message even if it does seem a little covert! Doge Cymru is currently but a whisper – but no one wants waste of taxes that by now seem to reach nowhere compared to times we were poorer… Pay more get less IS a huge issue…… Read more »
Hitching your wagon to the name “doge” is not a good move. They are wrecking the US governmental systems to the extent they will fail and are failing now.
One of the latest is removing funding from finding Ukrainian children that have been kidnapped by Russia. “doge” should be a by word for the fascist tool of breaking things that is it really doing. Not forgetting it is the vehicle for a nazi saluting holocaust denier to avoid scrutiny into his own misgivings. putin scored an epic goal getting these two to power.
doge is now cutting paediatric cancer research. They are ceasing funding to the labs.
While Trwmp pleasures himself by killing a few dozen women and children in far off Yemen…
Serial killing, the sport of Homo Superioris in the Situation Room…
A snuff movie theater and war-game room…American Roulette…
RIP Robbie Robertson…
Lives are already being lost due to USAID cut, deaths are happening now. One projection (NYT) is 3+ mil first year. But they are not white and not American.
And I hear the far right here thinking a doge in the UK would be a good idea. Knuckle draggers the lot of them.
Not even trying to conceal their dishonesty. And they wonder why they’re struggling in the polls.