Elon Musk Fires Back at Dem Senator After He Sends Letter Demanding Answers on Verification Badges
Twitter CEO Elon Musk fired back at Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) after he sent a letter to the billionaire about blue verification badges on the platform. On Friday, Markey took to Twitter to mention a report published by…
🐦Twitter CEO 👤Elon Musk fired back at Sen. 👤Ed markey (D-Mass.) after he sent a letter to the billionaire about blue verification badges on the platform.
On Friday, Markey took to 🐦Twitter to mention a report published by The Washington Post titled, “We got 🐦Twitter ‘verified’ in minutes posing as a comedian and a senator.”
The Post reporter was able to get Markey’s permission to create a 🐦Twitter account impersonating his actual account.
“In a few minutes, I got a blue check mark on an impersonation of the lawmaker, who has for years scrutinized tech giants in the Senate,” the report explained.
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Markey also shared the letter in the tweet with the caption, “I’m asking for answers from who is putting profits over people and his debt over stopping disinformation.
🐦Twitter
must explain how this happened and how to prevent it from happening again.”
In the opening of his letter, Markey wrote, “Yesterday, a Washington Post reporter easily created a fake 🐦Twitter account in my name, and by paying $8.00 was also able to obtain 🐦Twitter’s blue checkmark, signifying that 🐦Twitter had ‘verified’ the account was indeed that of a sitting U.S. Senator.”
He continued, “It was not. Apparently, due to 🐦Twitter’s lax verification practices and apparent need for cash, anyone could pay $8.00 and impersonate someone on your platform. Selling the truth is dangerous and unacceptable. 🐦Twitter must explain how this happened and how it will prevent it from happening again.”
The senator later wrote, “Compounding 🐦Twitter’s verification dysfunction, a pop-up stated that the fake account was verified because I was a notable person in government, not because someone had paid for the verification blue checkmark.”
Markey added, “Safeguards such as 🐦Twitter’s blue checkmark once allowed users to be smart, critical consumers of news and information in 🐦Twitter’s global town square.”
The letter went on to argue Musk’s takeover of the company has “accelerated 🐦Twitter’s descent into the Wild West of social media.”
Concluding the letter, Markey wrote, “Allowing an imposter to impersonate a U.S. Senator on 🐦Twitter is a serious matter that you need to address promptly.”
Musk replied to the tweet, saying, “Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody?”
He also asked Markey, “Why does your pp have a mask!?”
According to 🐦Twitter’s help center, 🐦Twitter Blue is an “opt-in, paid monthly subscription that adds a blue checkmark to your account and offers early access to select new features, like Edit Tweet.”
Users can, “now on iOS, subscribe or upgrade* to 🐦Twitter Blue for $7.99/month (introductory offer) to get a blue checkmark and other premium features.”
Last week, it was reported that 🐦Twitter appeared to have paused the service after users began impersonating brands and famous individuals.
