A parody account has attempted to disrupt the progress of the University’s newly-relaunched Conservative Society.
The imposter regularly posts on Instagram as if it is the real society, even going as far as to adopt their new logo.
It has also attempted to disrupt socials organised by group by posting identical invites with incorrect starting times.
@uos_conservatives, different to the official @shefftories, has posts stretching back to November 2022.
Seeming initially earnest, they’ve become increasingly extreme in their tone and content; openly mocking the University’s Labour Society, endorsing flat-earth theory, and celebrating Valdimir Putin’s reelection.
President of UoS Conservatives, Leone Parkin admitted being imitated was initially “unpleasant”: “We worked so hard to get our society started so having our logo and designs copied wasn’t nice”.
However, he does not consider the fake account “a threat”, “we are aware that our views are not welcomed by many students and were always prepared for some pushback.”
When pressed for comment, the account’s owners stated that “it should be painfully obvious” that they are not the genuine Tory society, arguing that they “exist as a clear parody of the conservative culture found in our universities.”
