Elon Musk says Twitter will ban impersonators, as users scramble to snatch his name | Elon Musk

Elon Musk said any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without explicitly defining “parody” It will be permanently suspendedWarning, after some celebrities changed their displayed names and tweeted the name “Elon Musk.”

the new Twitter The CEO tweeted Sunday night: “Previously, we issued a warning before the suspension, but now that we’re rolling out verification extensively, there will be no warning.”

Musk said that “any name change whatsoever” would lead to a temporary loss of the validated captcha.

On Sunday evening, several accounts that changed their name to Elon Musk or Elon Musk’s approximations appeared to have been suspended or placed behind a warning flag, including those of American comedian Kathy Griffin and the Australian satirical website. the Chaser.

“I guess not all content moderators have been abandoned? Lol,” Griffin joked afterwards on mastodonswhich is an alternative social media platform where I created an account last week.

Similarly, actress Valerie Bertinelli dedicated Musk’s name to the screen and posted a series of tweets in support of Democratic candidates on Saturday before returning to her real name. “Okay – Doki. I had fun and I think I made my point,” she tweeted afterwards.

The latest storm comes amid concerns about possible Twitter abuse of its planned verification check for a monthly fee of $7.99, a feature of Twitter Blue’s paid service.

Bertinelli indicated the original purpose of the blue check mark. given free of charge to people whose identity Twitter has confirmed; With journalists representing a large percentage of recipients. “It simply means that your identity has been verified. Fraudsters will find it difficult to impersonate you,” Bertinelli said. “This no longer applies. Good luck there! “

respond to Tweet about this issueMusk tweeted: “You’re the problem: journalists who think they’re the only source of legitimate information. That’s the big lie.”

New York times mentioned Musk’s new blue tick proposal will be delayed until after the US midterm elections, amid fears that users might buy up verification, pretend to be a political figure, and then sow electoral confusion.

A Twitter employee, Esther Crawford, told the Associated Press that the option is coming “soon but it hasn’t started yet.”

Appearing to defend his blanket ban on Sunday, Musk tweeted that he remains committed to free speech, and will Continue to allow the account reporting its movements to remain online. Musk previously said he opposes the permanent ban on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Twitter’s engineering teams are rolling out new features at breakneck speed, amid the chaos and distress caused by reports of Summary dismissal of half of Twitter’s 7,500-strong workforce.

There were reports Sunday night that dozens of laid-offs were being asked to return because they were either mistakenly laid off or the company has since realized that their work was vital to building the new features Musk was looking for.

He acquired Twitter at the end of last month for $44 billion, in a deal backed by billions of his own money. The entrepreneur has now set up a war room at the company’s San Francisco headquarters, where he and a small team of consultants scramble to save costs and roll out new products.

On the topic of previously banned accounts, Musk said last week that they would not be allowed to return to Twitter until the social media platform had a “clear process for doing so.”

Establishing such a process could take at least a few more weeks, Musk wrote in a tweet, giving more clarity about the possible return of the most famous banned Twitter user, former US President Donald Trump. The new timeline indicates that Trump will not be back in time for the November 8 midterm elections.

with Reuters