Elon Musk impersonators are causing chaos to protest Twitter verification issues. Twitter Users are protesting the new rules and regulations set by Elon Musk by exploiting the newfound system and turning it against itself.Since taking over Twitter, Elon Musk has been busy making several immediate changes to the social media platform, like terminating blindsided employees, his desire to introduce "PvP elements" to Twitter, and publicly addressing the integration of monetization in the rules and regulations. As the new owner of Twitter, Elon Musk introduced the notion of charging $20 per month to be verified, but after Stephen King spoke out against it, Musk decided to decrease the amount down to $8. However, there are Twitter users that are impersonating Elon Musk in an attempt to show how flawed monetizing individual authentication is, seeing as how anyone could theoretically impersonate others by buying the blue check mark.Two such accounts, owned by writer and former NFL player Chris Kluwe and podcast host Matt Helgeson, were restricted on Friday for changing their display names to "Elon Musk" and sharing mocking tweets impersonating the new CEO; they also encouraged other Twitter users to do the same. This incident is more than just trolling though, as it shows how monetizing blue check marks and unrestricted free speech could lead to the platform’s downfall through the spread of misinformation. While Musk's goal may be to give power back to the people, it does so in a way that will charge them for the same social status as influential figures, which could make the system crumble as a result. Although former Disney Exec Bob Iger agrees with Elon Musk on having to filter out the bot accounts from the platform, this solution has the potential to create even more fake accounts.
A potential reason for the monetization is to earn back some of the money that was spent from Elon Musk purchasing Twitter. At least two other verified Twitter accounts are posing as Elon Musk and have not yet been taken down, which Karen North, clinical professor of Digital Social Media, called an “extremely clever protest” in an interview with Newsweek.
According to Newsweek, there are hundreds of unverified Twitter users posing as Elon Musk that could receive blue check marks in the future under this monetization plan. It is reported that Twitter had attempted a lawsuit against Elon Musk for originally backing out of the Twitter deal, but this may not be the end for Twitter lawsuits, as prior employees are reportedly suing Elon Musk for how they were fired without warning.
Source: Newsweek