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Twitter bans several verified accounts for impersonating Elon Musk

A condition for paying $8 a month for verification is accepting you will be permanently banned if you impersonate another account.

Sam Chandler

November 6, 2022 5:45 PM

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Update: November 6, 2022 at 10:34 p.m. PT: More Twitter users have tested the limits of Elon Musk's allowance of parody accounts (and patience) including h3h3productions. The team updated the Twitter banner to read Parody Account, updated the profile picture, and changed the name to Elon Musk. The team then tweeted the following, "Even though Jeffery Epstein committed horrible crimes, I do still miss him on nights like this for his warmth and comradery. Rest In Peace old friend." Unsurprisingly, the h3h3productions Twitter account is now suspended.

Since Elon Musk’s announcement that Twitter verification would be tied to an $8 a month subscription fee for Twitter Blue, users have been testing the boundaries of this new system. Some of these users have found out that changing their name and making jokes as if they were Musk will result in a suspension from the platform.

On November 6, 2022, Elon Musk, now CEO of Twitter, took to the platform to inform users that changing a name to impersonate someone without clearly specifying it as a parody account will result in a permanent suspension.

Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2022

This round of suspensions follows several users changing their names to Elon Musk and tweeting wildly crazy tweets. One would be forgiven for perhaps confusing these tweets with Musk’s own late-night posts.

Musk does note that Twitter used to provide a warning before suspension, but this new widespread verification system will offer no such luxuries. In fact, accepting this will be a condition when signing up for Twitter Blue. One does hope that this fastidious banning of impersonators goes both ways, not just to the ones that get under Elon Musk’s skin.

For those getting caught up, Elon Musk purchased Twitter for some $44 billion dollars, has slashed jobs in a bid to save money, and some reports state he is even looking to cut $1 billion in Twitter infrastructure.

As for the users who have been hit by this wave of bans, Twitter users Kathy Griffin and jephjacques are currently suspended following a few outlandish tweets. One tweet by jephjacques (seen above) mentions Grimes and Musk's body odur and asks that users not repost it. There was also one that joked about the remaining Twitter staff bullying Musk.

Elon Musk has responded to Shibetoshi "Billy" Nakamoto that pseudonyms are fine and that the main point is that users cannot engage in "malicious deception". As for Kathy Griffin, Elon Musk said in a series of tweets, "Actually, she was suspended for impersonating a comedia. But if she really wants her account back, she can have it, for $8."

Elon Musk claims comedy is now legal on Twitter. The H3 Prodcast disagrees.

Comedy is dead on twitter and Elon Musk killed it pic.twitter.com/eFUFW7gqYp

— The H3 Podcast (@theh3podcast) November 7, 2022

Now that comedy is legal on Twitter and Elon Musk, believer and advocate for free speech, is at the helm, it will be interesting to see what comes of the platform. Be sure to read over our Twitter page for a chronological look at what’s been happening with our favorite bird app.

Sam Chandler

Head of Guides

Hailing from the land down under, Sam Chandler brings a bit of the southern hemisphere flair to his work. After bouncing round a few universities, securing a bachelor degree, and entering the video game industry, he's found his new family here at Shacknews as Head of Guides. There's nothing he loves more than crafting a guide that will help someone. If you need help with a guide, or notice something not quite right, you can message him on X: @SamuelChandler