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Parody Elon Musk Twitter accounts will be suspended immediately, says Elon Musk
This is no laughing matter, says very stable genius, as Kathy Griffin forced to tweet from dead mom's account
Elon Musk, the self-affirmed bastion of free speech, says that anyone setting up a parody Twitter account that isn’t marked as such will be permanently banned from the social network.
Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2022
Previously, Twitter issued an admonition before suspending an account for the wrongdoing but now that the company is “rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning. This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue,” His Muskness said.
He added: "Any name change at all will cause temporary loss of certified checkmark.”
The good folk of the Tweetsphere came up against this corporate policy first-hand over the weekend, when some decided to changed their name to Elon Musk.
US comedian Kathy Griffin was among those suspended from Twitter for this violation. She tweeted as Musk, urging fellow Americans to vote for Democrats in the midterm elections scheduled for November 8.
“After much spirited discussion with the females in my life, I've decided that voting blue for their choice is only right (They're also sexy females, btw),” she said as Musk.
Following the suspension, Griffin tiptoed back onto the platform. “I’m tweeting from my dead mother’s account. She would not mind. #FreeKathy.”
So it seems impersonation is off the menu of behavior that Musk finds acceptable in his efforts to ensure Twitter does not become a “free-for-all hellscape”.
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Just last week, Twitter head of safety Yoel Roth was forced to remind users of the platform about rules that prohibit hateful conduct when owners of a limited number of accounts descended into nastiness.
“Over the last 48 hours, we’ve seen a small number of accounts post a ton of tweets that include slurs and other derogatory terms. To give you a sense of scale: More than 50,000 tweets repeatedly using a particular slur came from just 300 accounts.”
In other changes taking place at the Musk-owned social media company, Twitter yesterday confirmed it will begin charging users $7.99 to sign up to the Twitter Blue service. It was previously only available to individuals or organizations deemed to be of sufficiently high profile or influence.
This is proving to be a controversial move and one that has already found critics, including novelist Stephen King, who threatened to quit Twitter if the blue tick charge came to fruition.
Musk is trying to diversify the income streams for the company, which he said is losing $4 million a day which apparently forced him to make redundant around 3,750 employees Twitter employees, or half the workforce. Advertisers are keen to see what sort of Twitter Musk can craft, and already some have hit the brakes on spending as they adopt a wait and see attitude.
Volkswagen has frozen paid advertising. “We are closely monitoring the situation and will decide about next steps depending on its evolvement,” it said in a statement on Friday. Audi of America is doing the same thing, as is food-maker and brand marketeer General Mills.
As for what happens to those suspended accounts, they will not be allowed back onto the platform until the company has a "clear process for doing so," Musk said last week. This was seemingly a reference to former US president Donald Trump who was banned from spreading hate and fear via Twitter. Donald's account wasn't a parody, even though he made it look as such with real ease. ®