Twitter’s new verification model appears to have backfired after a number of distasteful posts from the seemingly official accounts of famous figures.
Previously, the blue tick symbol was reserved for accounts Twitter had vetted and determined to be genuine.
But following his takeover, Elon Musk announced that anyone would be able to purchase a tick for $8.00-per-month in the US, and £6.99 in the UK, as part of the Twitter Blue service.
Now the social media site is awash with accounts pretending to be brands, celebrities and politicians.
One verified account, purporting to be former US president George W Bush, tweeted: “I miss killing Iraqis”.
Shortly afterwards another account, this one claiming to be ex-PM Tony Blair, quote tweeted the fake Bush account saying: “Same tbh”.
Another account claiming to be Nintendo posted a picture of Super Mario making an offensive gesture, while another purporting to be OJ Simpson tweeted: “Ya I’m ngl I did that s***”.
Another from a user posing as basketball megastar LeBron James said he was “officially requesting a trade”.
And even Twitter was not immune from the chaos, with someone mimicking the firm’s corporate account apparently convincing many it was genuine.
Many of the accounts were subsequently suspended, while others which identified themselves as a “parody” remained.
Until now, the verification badge was only given to notable or high-profile accounts which Twitter had analysed and deemed authentic, but now the only barrier to clear is for a user to pay the monthly subscription.
Users on Apple’s iOS in the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand can now sign up and pay for the service, which will give them the blue-tick badge next to their profile name on the platform.
Musk has responded to criticism by arguing that adding a paid tier to the platform will help weed out spam and fake accounts because they will not be willing to pay to get traction on the site.
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Source : skynews
