Musk plans to curb impersonation on Twitter, says mention 'parody' in name, not just bio

Ever since Twitter's new CEO, Elon Musk rolled out paid subscription model, the platform has witnessed an unprecedented spike in fake accounts. In the latest development, Musk warned the parody accounts to mention "parody" in their name, not just in their bio. "To be more precise accounts doing parody impersonations. Basically, tricking people is not okay," Musk said in a Twitter post on Friday morning (IST). Earlier, he had asserted that the microblogging platform would suspend the account permanently if it was found impersonating without clearly specifying "parody." 

The major development came as several verified accounts including Donald Trump, George Bush, Tony Blair, Elon Musk, and many other prominent public figures accounts got impersonated within hours of rolling out paid model. Earlier in a Twitter poll, Musk asked its 115 million followers if they think the number of bots and spam on the microblogging site has gone down. Evidently, he got negative replies from the users who claimed that they witnessed a massive increase in fake profiles. One user pointed out to him in reply that "I've seen like 30 people with check marks pretend to be major companies & celebrities. I'd account that as scam/spam, so no." Notably, several parody accounts possessed the name of a person or company in the handle alongside the blue verification badge. Apparently, this made it nearly ungraspable to know these were spoof accounts without ing on the profiles and visiting the bios. 

What is a Blue tick and why it is crucial for both user and the platform?

It is worth mentioning that the verification badge, which is often called a "blue tick" mark, is granted to celebrities, politicians, business leaders, and journalists. Besides, the social media giant also uses the blue check mark to verify activists and people who suddenly find themselves in the news, as well as little-known journalists at small publications around the globe. According to Twitter, it is essential to provide a verification badge to notable personalities in order to curb misinformation coming from accounts that are impersonating people. Until now, the verification badge is free but now the world's richest man has confirmed the service will not be free and the users have to pay $8 a month. 

Image: AP