Before Elon Musk bought the social media platform, the “blue checkmark” trust badge was previously only granted by the platform if an account met certain criteria and was verified to be who they said they were. However, since the day after election night, it appeared to have become, according to one user, a “free-for-all.” An account that appeared to be LeBron James’ official Twitter presence announced that he was being traded by the Los Angeles Lakers. Another account pretending to be Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid also posted that a trade had taken place. An account bearing the image and likeness of ESPN analyst Adam Schefter reported that Las Vegas Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels had been fired. However, again, these were all impersonation accounts that posted these tweets with a “parody” tag on their Twitter bio, meaning none of the news was real. As the day went on, more fakes appeared. First, there was conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, whose image and likeness was used in a new account with the handle @dBenShapiro. “Matt Walsh won’t stop calling me and talking about genitalia,” read a tweet on the parody account, which referred to Shapiro’s colleague at The Daily Wire as well as the host of the documentary “What Is a Woman?” This fake Shapiro account was active for several hours and was suspended later in the day. Musk previously said he would “permanently suspend any account on the social media platform impersonating another,” according to the Associated Press. Nintendo of America’s official Twitter handle tweeted out some weird images of Mario from Super Mario, including one where he gave the middle finger, or did he? The handle @nlntendoofus was another parody account, which was soon suspended, but not before its tweets spread across the social media platform. The image and likeness of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was also used on an account named @RudyGiulianiESQ. The account’s tweets were available for at least an hour, according to this screenshot. Giuliani previously served as a lawyer for former US President Donald Trump. The account was not new, according to @mmasnick. Valve Software, best known for creating the “Half-Life,” “Portal” and “Team Fortress” video game series, also went by the handle @valvesotfware. However, in this case, the account was old and had just bought an option to give an example of how Musk’s new $8 idea might not be going so well. The user @valvesotfware was soon suspended from the platform, even though the account was not new and had sent a message on Twitter highlighting the problematic nature of the new Twitter offering. Musk’s image and likeness had also been used seemingly endless times on various impersonation accounts that, again, showed checkmark signals. A user who controlled one such account named @elon_rmusk, who has also been suspended, tweeted: “Starting today we’ll start offering Twitter Gold: a free membership that gives you an annual family vacation and dinner dine with me. the name is Grimes. Please come back. I love you.” The parody tweet referred to Grimes, Musk’s ex-girlfriend. These fakes were definitely just the tip of the iceberg. It remains to be seen if the new paid ticker feature remains available for purchase on Twitter or if it has been removed or changed. After all, earlier in the day, Musk had tweeted: “Please note that Twitter will be doing a lot of dumb things in the coming months. We’ll keep what works and change what doesn’t.” For a parting thought, NBC News senior reporter Ben Collins tweeted his thoughts on the initial slaughter of checkmark imitators. “They rely on the fact that their oversight team will cover any account impersonating someone — even if that person is impersonating an unnamed government official,” Collins posted. “This is going to be a nightmare that’s going to be very funny before it’s scary.” Sources: Bajak, Frank. “Musk Threatens to Launch Twitter Account Impersonators.” The Associated Press, 7 Nov. 2022, Collins, Ben. Twitter, November 9, 2022, @gabefollower. Twitter, November 9, 2022, Masnick, Mike. Twitter, November 9. 2022, Monacelli, Steven. Twitter, November 9. 2022, Ramírez, Nikki McCann. Twitter, November 9, 2022,
