New Twitter owner Elon Musk said on Sunday that anyone on the platform that operates an account impersonating someone else, without stating “parody” in the profile, will be permanently suspended from the service.
Musk responded to the tweet by saying that while the company used give warnings to imitators to allow them to correct the situation, it would no longer do so. Suspension will take place as soon the violation is discovered.
“Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying ‘parody’ will be permanently suspended,” Musk wrote, adding, “We used to issue warnings before suspending, but we are now rolling out widespread verification so there won’t be any warning.”
Previously, we issued a warning before suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning.
This will be clearly marked as a condition of signing up for Twitter Blue.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2022
Even before Musk’s tweets, Twitter had started to turn off a number of accounts where users had changed their profile name to “Elon Musk” in protest at the billionaire entrepreneur’s plan to overhaul The verification systemBy tying it with the premium Twitter Blue Tier, anyone can get a blue checkmark by simply paying the $8/month Blue rate.
Actor and comedian Kathy Griffin, for example, recently changed her Twitter account name to “Elon Musk” and subsequently had Her account suspended. It’s not yet clear if the suspension will turn out to be permanent, as it appears her account was suspended before Musk posted his tweets.
RoswellBrendan Fehr, actor One Day at A Time’s Valerie Bertinelli also changed their Twitter name to Elon Musk, but once they heard that the company was taking action, they removed his name.
“We are no longer all Elon Musk … cause he locked those accounts,” Fehr Tweet on Sunday, adding, “But don’t worry, he’s still perfectly fine with anyone tweeting lies and irresponsible conspiracies so all’s good and makes sense.”
Bertinelli tweeted. “Okey-dokey I’ve had my fun and I think I made my point. I’m just not a ‘trending’ kind of gal. Never have been, never want to be.”
The rules apply to anyone attempting to impersonate Elon Musk. Ian Woolford from Melbourne, a professor of Hindi, has recently changed his profile photo to match the one used by Elon Musk. Twittering in HindiTwitter’s recent shenanigans. His account has Now, the suspension has been liftedIt was probably because it didn’t state it was a parody.
Writer Hannah Gais, who currently has “not a parody” as part of her account name, pointed out how the complexities of trying to run Twitter appear to be impacting Musk. Gais shared a “how it started, how it’s going” post, featuring a tweet posted by Musk 10 days ago, on the day the Twitter deal went through, saying, “Comedy is now legal on Twitter,” followed by his post on Sunday about imitation accounts.
how it started, how it’s going pic.twitter.com/DcL5RIB8aE
— hannah gais (not a parody) (@hannahgais) November 6, 2022
Multiple reports on Sunday said that Twitter has confirmed it’s pausing the rollout of account verifications linked to Twitter Blue until after the midterm elections.
Whether the extra time gives Twitter’s new top team pause for thought in how it’s approaching the verification system remains to be seen, though at the current time, it appears keen to press ahead with the changes.
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