Status: 14.11.2022 2:12 p.m
The topic of Twitter fake accounts is making waves more and more. Democrat Ed Markey warns Elon Musk and accuses him of turning the short message service into the “wild west of social media”.
The chaos surrounding the verification of Twitter accounts via a blue verification tick takes on a political dimension. The new Twitter owner and, according to Bloomberg, the richest person in the world, Elon Musk, has received a sharp warning from an influential US senator after the violent irritation surrounding fake accounts that look deceptively real.
“Get your businesses in order. Or Congress will do it,” Democrat Ed Markey tweeted Sunday after a verbal exchange with Musk.
No identity check
The trigger for the dispute was an experiment by the “Washington Post”, owned since 2013 by the fourth richest person, Jeff Bezos. A journalist from the newspaper, with Markey’s permission, managed to set up a fake account for the senator with a verification tick.
The background is a new procedure established by Musk last Wednesday, in which the verification marks previously awarded to celebrities, politicians and companies after a check are to be given to all Twitter users who pay eight dollars a month as a subscription fee. There is no identity check.
The tick symbol looks identical in both cases. Only when you click on it is an explanatory text displayed, whether the account got the tick because of its importance or because the user paid for it.
Subscription function suspended for the time being
Musk said that from his point of view, authentication by payment services and app platforms should protect against misuse of the new system. That didn’t work, as it didn’t stop numerous users from spending eight dollars to set up verified celebrity and corporate fake accounts with verification ticks and therefore appearing credible.
It affected sports stars such as basketball player LeBron James, the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, the fruit specialist Chiquita, the games company Nintendo and ex-US President Donald Trump. Twitter suspended the subscription feature over the weekend. It is not expected to be activated again until the end of the week, Musk tweeted. However, checkmarks that have already been assigned in this way are still displayed.
“Wild West of Social Media”
The “Washington Post” had created a fake account for Markey with a subscription payment, including a verification tick, while the senator had long had official profiles on the service. Worse still, at least the smartphone app said the fake account had been verified because of its importance. It was no longer distinguishable from the real thing.
Markey then accused Musk of making Twitter a “social media wild west” by making “rapid and indiscriminate” changes to the platform. “This is unacceptable,” Markey wrote, demanding explanations from Musk about the verification system. He wants answers from Musk, who care more about profit than people. The senator also wants to know how such events are to be prevented in the future.
Too much work?
Musk defiantly responded on Twitter: “Maybe it’s because her real account comes off as a parody?” Markey then reminded him that Twitter had to make commitments to the powerful consumer protection agency FTC and that Musk-led electric car maker Tesla was being investigated by the NHTSA for fatalities.
The Senate can summon company bosses to hearings. After the recent parliamentary elections, it is already foreseeable that the Democrats will retain control of the Congress Chamber.
At the G20 summit in Indonesia today, Musk provided an insight into his current state of mind. When asked about buying Twitter and becoming CEO of Tesla, he said he works as much as he can, from morning to night, seven days a week: “I have way too much work on my plate, that much is certain.”