According to a tweet from Elon Musk, Twitter will permanently suspend any accounts that use the social media site to impersonate others.
After some celebrities changed their Twitter display names, not their account names, and tweeted as Elon Musk in protest of the billionaire’s decision to offer verified accounts to all comers for US$8 a month (NZ$13.50), while he also laid off a significant portion of the workforce, the platform’s new owner issued the warning.
Any Twitter accounts using impersonation in the future without explicitly stating “parody” will be permanently suspended, Musk tweeted. Twitter used to give notifications before bans, however as of the implementation of “widespread verification, there would be no notification,”
In fact, “any name change at all” would compel the temporary loss of a verified checkmark, the world’s richest man said.
After changing her screen name to Musk on Sunday (local time), comedian Kathy Griffin had her account terminated. She admitted using his profile picture to a Bloomberg reporter.
“I assume that not ALL content moderators were fired. Lol, “Afterward, Griffin made jokes on Mastodon, an alternative social networking site where she recently created an account.
Similar to Valerie Bertinelli, who used Musk’s screen name to tweet in support of Democratic candidates on Saturday before returning to her real name. She later tweeted, “Okay-dokey. I’ve had fun and I hope I made my point.
Bertinelli noted the original intent behind the blue verification tick prior to the prank.
It was given away for free to those whose identities Twitter personnel had verified, with journalists making up a sizable share of the receivers. “Just that your identity has been confirmed. It would be more difficult for scammers to pose as you, “Observed Bertinelli.
“That is no longer true. Good luck to you all “Added she.
The $8 verified accounts are Musk’s way of democratising the service, he claims.
Users who “sign up now” for the new “Twitter Blue with verification” can obtain the blue check next to their names “exactly like the celebrities, companies, and politicians you currently follow,” according to a Twitter update for iOS devices posted on Apple’s app store on Saturday.
It stated that the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK would be the first countries to offer the service. However, there was no indication of when it would be live, and it wasn’t accessible on Sunday.
Esther Crawford, a Twitter employee, told The Associated Press that it would start “soon,” but not yet.
An email sent to Twitter on Sunday asking for comments on the verified accounts problem and Griffin’s ban received no response.
Later, Musk tweeted, “Our objective is for Twitter to become the world’s most reliable source of information.
” If the company were to strip current verified users of blue checks – something that hasn’t happened – that could exacerbate disinformation on the platform during Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Following Friday’s start of layoffs, which reportedly affected about half of Twitter’s 7500 employees, some users of the social media platform have already started switching to Counter Social, another well-liked substitute. Griffin is not the only one of these Twitter users who has started doing this.
They worry that a breakdown in moderation and verification could lead to a disinformation free-for-all on what has previously been the primary channel for trustworthy communications from governmental organisations and other institutions on the internet.
Because they were worried that Musk would make the site more chaotic, many businesses stopped running ads on it.
Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of safety and integrity, sought to assuage such concerns in a tweet on Friday.
He said that the group least impacted by the job losses was the company’s front-line content moderation staff.
Musk stated in a late-Friday tweet that job cuts were necessary “when the company is losing over $4M/day.” He did not provide details on the daily losses at Twitter and said employees who lost their jobs were offered three months’ pay as severance..
Musk threatens to block fake Twitter users.
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