“Second Tesla hits World Trade Center”, “Nestlé – we steal your water and sell it back to you” or “Chiquita – we overthrew the Brazilian government”.
All real news. Or at least those sent on Twitter from an account with a blue verification checkmark.
Problem: Everything is fake!
After his Twitter takeover, Elon Musk (51) announced that he would be charging nearly $8 for verification. Previously, the white check on a blue verification badge guaranteeing the authenticity of the Twitter profile was free.
While the new rule caused frustration among numerous celebrities and politicians, fake accounts took advantage of the moment to buy a tick. Suddenly, deceptively real-looking profiles of basketball star LeBron James (37), the games company Nintendo or ex-US President Donald Trump (76) appeared.
“Don’t miss killing Iraqis”
The fake George W. Bush (76) writes: “I miss killing Iraqis.” The war in Iraq broke out under the former US president. The Americans had attacked Iraq in violation of international law to prevent an alleged imminent attack by Iraq on the US with weapons of mass destruction.
In the new system, anyone who pays for it will get a check mark. There is no identity check. The tick looks the same in both cases. You can only find out from the text after clicking on the symbol whether you are dealing with a previously verified account or with a newly purchased tick.
Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly apologized to Twitter users who were led to believe by a fake account that insulin would be distributed for free in the future.
Consumer protection warning
After the chaos, Twitter received a stark warning from the US consumer protection agency FTC. “We are following the latest developments on Twitter with great concern,” a spokesperson said on Thursday.
In response to previous violations at the FTC, Twitter committed, among other things, to subject new features to a data protection and security test before introduction. According to media reports, Musk assured employees in an email after the FTC’s warning that Twitter would do everything it could to honor the agreement with the agency.
As observant users reported a day after the fake accounts spread, the option to buy a checkmark for $8 had already disappeared from the platform, writes “The Verge”. And the fake accounts are now blocked or the blue check has been removed. In addition, gray “official” check marks are now being given again – a feature that Elon Musk just killed a few days ago.
Chaos days on Twitter – and no end in sight.