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Elon Musk's "Buy a verified account" continues to backfire. Among other new accounts I've personally seen @JesusChrist and also @realDonaldTrum (sic), and I hardly look at Twitter (friends sent me those two for the lols). BBC running a story now at: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63599553 [bbc.com]

A wave of new paid blue tick accounts impersonating influential individuals and brands has led to chaos and confusion on Twitter.

Fake "verified" accounts in the names of politicians, celebrities, major organisations and businesses started appearing on the platform on Thursday.

Twitter suspended many of them, but the company's rapidly changing attempts to address the issue added to the confusion.

...

Blue tick versions of major brand accounts such as Apple, Nintendo, BP and Chiquita were suspended. Fake accounts posing as high-profile individuals like Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg, current and former US Presidents Joe Biden, Donald Trump and George W Bush, and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair were also removed.

In one case, an account in the name of Republican candidate for Arizona governor Kari Lake tweeted to announce she was conceding to her Democratic opponent, despite the fact votes are still being counted in the tight race. It took hours for Twitter to remove the tweet and the fake account.

Can Elon pull a silk purse from this sow's ear (bird's ear??) While it's not looking very good just now, he does have a pretty good track record of recovery after previous bouts of shooting himself in the foot. As I noted elsewhere on SN (posting AC), even if Twitter goes bankrupt, he should be able to write off the loss against profits from his other companies, so it won't cost him anywhere near the full $44B.

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