Elon Musk has revealed that he won’t stand the presence of impersonators on his newly acquired platform, Twitter. In a tweet, Musk announced that any Twitter handles that impersonate without clearly mentioning the word “parody” will be taken down immediately. Earlier, Twitter did send warnings before the suspension of any account. Musk also claimed that if a verified account changes its name, it will temporarily lose its verified badge.
In a tweet, Musk said, “Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended.”
This comes hours after comedian Kathy Griffin’s account was suspended for impersonating Elon Musk. Considering that she was verified, the name Elon Musk even carried the blue tick mark.
Musk further explained the changes in a tweet saying, “Previously, we issued a warning before suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning.”
He also said, “This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue. Any name change at all will cause temporary loss of verified checkmark.“
Griffin’s account was Tweeting as Elon Musk and also asked readers to vote for blue (democrats) in the mid-term elections. US will be conducting its mid-term elections on November 8.
Twitter is expected to postpone the rollout of the new Twitter Blue subscription to November 9 due to the mid-term elections in the US. Twitter Blue now comes with the benefit of getting the blue verified checkmark. This checkmark can be misused during the elections to garner votes.
Twitter Blue will also come with other features to incentivize users to pay for it. The users will be prioritized in replies, mentions & search (Musk claims this will be essential to defeat spam/scam). Twitter will also give users the ability to post long video and audio. Furthermore, you’ll also get half as many ads if you subscribe to Twitter Blue.