Elon Musk: Twitter to ban impersonating accounts

Boston –

Elon Musk tweeted on Sunday Twitter permanently suspends all accounts on social media platforms that impersonate another account.

Platform’s new owner issues warning after some celebrities change their Twitter display names (not account names), billionaire to give all visitors verified accounts in eight months tweeted as “Elon Musk” in response to the billionaire’s decision. He was fired at the same time. most of the workforce.

“Going forward, Twitter that engages in impersonation without clearly specifying ‘parody’ will be permanently banned,” Musk wrote. Twitter issued a warning before the suspension, but now says it is “extensively reviewing and will not issue a warning.”

In fact, “any name change” would force him to temporarily lose his verified checkmark, said the world’s richest man.

Comedian Kathy Griffin was suspended Sunday after changing her screen name to Mask. She told a Bloomberg reporter that she also used his profile picture.

“You don’t think all the content moderators got fired? LOL,” Griffin later joked on Mastodon, another social media platform where she set up an account last week.

Actor Valerie Bertinelli similarly appropriated Musk’s screen name, reverting to her real name on Saturday after posting a series of tweets endorsing the Democratic candidate. “Okay. It was fun and I think she got her point across,” she tweeted.

Prior to the stunt, Bertinelli pointed out the original purpose of the blue verification checkmark. It was granted free of charge to anyone whose identity was verified by a Twitter employee. Journalists make up the majority of recipients. “It simply means that your identity has been verified. Scammers will have a hard time impersonating you,” he said.

“That doesn’t apply anymore. Good luck!” she added.

The $8 verified accounts, he argues, are Musk’s way of democratizing the service. On Saturday, a Twitter update for iOS devices in Apple’s app store said that users who “sign up now” for the new “Verified Twitter Blue” were “just like celebrities, businesses and politicians. You’ll see a blue check next to your name.” I’m already following you.

The service would initially be available in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, but it wasn’t available on Sunday and it was unclear when it would go live.Esther Crawford, Twitter employee “It’s coming soon, but it hasn’t started yet,” he told the Associated Press.

Twitter did not respond to an email on Sunday seeking comment on the verified account issue and Griffin’s suspension.

Musk later said, “Twitter has to be the most accurate source of information about the world. That’s our mission.”

If the company strips current verified users of their blue checks (which has never happened before), it could exacerbate misinformation on its platform during Tuesday’s midterm elections.

Like Griffin, some Twitter users have already started moving away from the platform after layoffs that reportedly began Friday, affecting about half of Twitter’s 7,500 employees. They fear that if moderation and verification breaks down, disinformation could be freely created on the Internet, the primary conduit for trustworthy communications from public authorities and others.

Many companies have paused advertising on their platforms over concerns that they could become more unruly under masks.

Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of safety and integrity, tried to allay such concerns in a tweet on Friday. The company’s frontline content management staff are the group least affected by the layoffs, he said.

Musk tweeted late Friday that he had no choice but to cut staff “when the company is losing more than $4 million a day.” He did not provide details of the daily losses on Twitter, saying that employees who lost their jobs were provided with three months’ severance pay.