Fake ‘Blue Check' Twitter Accounts Flourish Under Elon Musk’s New Plan
There's a new breed of users posing as celebrities and politicians after the launch of Twitter's $8-a-month verification service.
People using false identities were awarded blue check marks on the website after the social media site changed its policy on verification after Elon Musk's $44 billion purchase of the company last month. In one of his first acts at the company, he announced those badges would be available to buy under an $8-a-month subscription service.
Previously, the company had granted verification to people that it deemed to be high-profile and at risk of impersonation, such as politicians, celebrities or journalists.
One account with a blue tick appeared to show former US president George W. Bush tweeting an offensive message according to screenshots circulating online. The images showed another false account claiming to be former British prime minister Tony Blair retweeting the post. Both had been deleted by the time of writing.
Serious examples of confusion also include an account that claimed to be O.J. Simpson writing a message about the infamous trial in which he was acquitted of the murder of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, according to other screenshots posted online.
Other users were caught in the changing policy with less grave results. Singer Doja Cat found that she was unable to change her display name back from “christmas” after a new rule came in. “Why can't I change my name on here,” she wrote. “I don't wanna be Christmas forever @elonmusk please help I've made a mistake,” she added shortly after.
Musk responded by writing “working on it!” but added that the mistake was “pretty funny though.”
Entrepreneur Mark Cuban complained that the new system made it
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