Elon Musk has assured Twitter users that impersonation will lead to a permanent ban on the app. An issue which plagues Twitter users across the globe, Twitter impersonation has also led to misinformation and scam activities. To curb this, Elon Musk has announced that handles that do not specifically state they are “parody” accounts will be suspended permanently.
If you frequently use Twitter, you’ll agree that time and again, fake accounts masquerade themselves as people they aren’t. These bad actors take the name, profile pictures, and bios of popular influencers, government officials, tech executives, and so much more to fool the average user. Sadly, most users fall for these schemes of these bad actors, hence getting them into compromising situations such as divulging their personal information (bank details and the like).
Asides from scamming users, some of these impersonators find it amusing to live under the shadows of an important personality and Musk seems to be fed up with these accounts cat-fishing as people that they are not.
After Katty Griffin, a popular American comedian put “Elon Musk” as her profile image and username (proceeding to make jokes about the Chief Twit), her account got suspended. Also, cartoonist Jeph Jacques, thought it was funny to masquerade as the Chief Twitt and make jokes. He also doesn’t have a working Twitter account anymore.
While the accounts suspended most recently due to user impersonation made jokes about the new Twitter CEO, there are still tons of accounts on Twitter that mask themselves as people they are not. As such, Musk has a long way to go in fishing these out. Possibly, in the coming months, we will begin to see catfish accounts get a permanent Twitter ban.