Government fails to see funny side of parody Twitter account

Government fails to see funny side of parody Twitter account

Earlier this year, ministers made the decision to adopt the formal Government of Jersey identity and cease the use of ‘States of Jersey’ when referring to the executive and administrative departments.

This led to the States dropping the @StatesOfJersey Twitter handle and replacing it with @GovJersey.

However, an anonymous Islander snapped up the now-disused States of Jersey moniker online and began tweeting a series of satirical and parody comments about the running of government.

Within a couple of days, the parody account had racked up hundreds of followers – including a large number of sitting States Members.

The page tweeted a number of times referencing its ‘WonGov’ programme – a play on Charlie Parker’s One Gov scheme – and used hashtags such as #WholeLottaGov.

Now the States have requested the account be deactivated and has been in contact with Twitter to reclaim the @StatesOfJersey handle. A States spokesperson said: ‘The Government of Jersey can confirm that Twitter has been contacted regarding the account @StatesofJersey.

‘As the States of Jersey is a legal entity, which maintains authorship of legislature on the Island, the government has requested the rights to remain owner of the @StatesofJersey Twitter handle. There is ongoing contact with Twitter to resolve the matter.’

Since the announcement of the change to the Government of Jersey, the JEP has received a number of letters to the editor criticising the move.

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