Musk Issues New Rule For Parody Twitter Accounts After ‘Verified’ Impersonators Cause Chaos

Topline

Twitter CEO Elon Musk on Thursday night outlined the latest set of rules under which parody accounts will operate, including clear identification, hours after multiple impersonator accounts who paid for a “verified” badge under the new Twitter Blue subscription spread misinformation and confusion on the platform.

Elon Musk has issued new rules that parody accounts on Twitter will have to follow going forward … [+] after the platform faced a chaotic day with verified impersonators.

NurPhoto via Getty Images

Key Facts

Musk tweeted that accounts engaging in parody will have to include the word “parody” in their name and not just their Twitter bios.

This new rule, according to Musk, is aimed at accounts engaging in “parody impersonations” adding that “tricking people is not ok.”

Musk also said he agreed with right-wing commentator Iain Miles Cheong, who urged him to add a “malicious intent or with the intent to deceive” rule to Twitter’s terms of service.

The billionaire, however, appeared to brush off what was chaotic Thursday for the social media platform by tweeting out “Quite the day!” and adding that he saw some “epically funny tweets.”

Appearing to be unfazed about all the controversy, Musk added that Twitter “isn’t boring” and claimed the platform hit an “all-time high of active users” on Thursday.

Forbes was not able to verify Musk’s claim about the surge in daily active users.

News Peg

After rolling out its updated Twitter Blue service, which allows any user paying $8 a month to receive a verified Twitter badge without any actual authentication of their identity, the platform has been flooded with “verified” users impersonating public figures and companies. This has triggered confusion among Twitter users who have mistakenly retweeted news from fake verified accounts and allowed misinformation to spread rapidly. One of the most high profile incidents surrounding this involved drugmaker Eli Lilly, after a verified impersonator account with the handle @EliLillyandCo tweeted “we are excited to announce insulin is free now.” After the fake tweet garnered major traction, the real Eli Lilly and Company was forced to issue a statement via its official handle @Lillypad. The statement noted: “We apologize to those who have been served a misleading message from a fake Lilly account.” The fake Eli Lilly account has not been deleted but several other verified impersonators have continued to pop up including fake Tesla, BP and AIPAC accounts among countless others.

Key Background

While Musk has continued to present an optimistic face about Twitter, regularly pointing to a rise in its active user base, the billionaire has reportedly been far more circumspect behind closed doors. In an all-hands meeting with Twitter staff on Thursday, Musk reportedly warned that the company is facing serious financial problems and added “bankruptcy is not out of the question.” Amidst all of this chaos, Twitter has continued to lose key top executives, raising fears about the company’s compliance with a Federal Trade Commission consent decree and its ability to screen out hate and misinformation. On Thursday it was revealed that Twitter’s Chief Information Security Officer Lea Kissner, Chief Privacy Officer Damien Kieran and Head of Compliance Marianne Fogarty, all quit the company in a 24-hour period. The Verge reported that an internal Slack message shared by a company lawyer with other Twitter employees warned that Musk was putting the company at serious risk of a federal investigation and billions of dollars in fines. The message also reportedly urged employees to seek whistleblower protection. Later in the evening, the Plaformer’s Zoë Schiffer tweeted that the company’s Head of Safety and Integrity Yoeh Roth is also leaving the company. Roth had emerged as one of the faces of Twitter’s battle against misinformation and hateful content since Musk’s takeover and was involved in an effort to assure advertisers that Twitter was a safe platform for them.

Topline

Key Facts

News Peg

Key Background

Further Reading