Elon Musk says Twitter will ban unlabeled parody accounts

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Elon Musk says Twitter will ban anyone impersonating someone else without specifying that it’s a parody.

This comes after the billionaire purchased the platform and announced that verification would be open to anyone who buys Twitter Blue for $8 a month.

Yesterday afternoon, Musk took to Twitter to share his plans for a new moderation policy. Just days after claiming to revive comedy on the platform, Musk has issued a strong new rule against parody accounts.

The rule itself is not brand new. Twitter previously had a system where it would warn parody accounts with a three-strike policy before banning them permanently. But Musk says no more warnings.

Previously, we issued a warning before suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning.

This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2022

Now when an account impersonates somebody else without expressing that it is a parody account, Twitter will ban it permanently. No warnings or temporary suspensions for this heinous violation.

People keep pretending to be Musk on Twitter

Musk seemingly had this new idea after many verified accounts began impersonating him on Twitter.

A ton of people were saying some pretty crazy things while masquerading as Elon Musk. Here are a few examples below:

https://twitter.com/scattermoon/status/1588943592361381888

https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/1589393052707479552

Local hero @arb is teaching the Twitter CEO the value of the extant verification system and its rules. pic.twitter.com/4g2E4z4pMw

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) November 4, 2022

Some used Musk’s likeness to show just how easily Twitter’s verification mark can be used for deception.

This is a good rule to have. It’s not right to let anyone impersonate others on Twitter just because they have a checkmark.

Trash me all day, but it’ll cost $8

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 5, 2022

But Twitter’s instant permanent suspension for parody accounts seems like harsh punishment. Especially considering how Elon claims that he’s bringing comedy back to Twitter.

By now, this all seems like a sick joke. Elon claims to be a proponent of free speech on platforms like Twitter. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the platform eventually becomes the world’s richest man’s echo chamber.

For now, it seems like the remnants of a social media era akin to the wild west. It’ll be interesting to see what happens next.

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