Musk threatens to boot Twitter account impersonators

Elon Musk tweeted Sunday that Twitter will permanently suspend any account on the social media platform that impersonates anotherThe platformrsquos new owner issued the warning after some celebrities changed their Twitter display names not their account names and tweeted as Elon Muskrsquo in reaction to the billionairersquos decision to offer verified accounts to all comers for 8 month as he simultaneously laid off a big chunk of the workforceldquoGoing forward any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying lsquoparody will be permanently suspendedrdquo Musk wrote While Twitter previously issued warnings before suspensions now that it is rolling out lsquowidespread verificationrsquo there will be no warning ldquoIn fact lsquoany name change at allrsquo would compel the temporary loss of a verified checkmarkrdquo the worldrsquos richest man saidComedian Kathy Griffin had her account suspended Sunday after she switched her screen name to Musk She told a Bloomberg reporter that she had also used his profile photoldquoI guess not ALL the content moderators were let go Lolrdquo Griffin joked afterward on Mastodon an alternative social media platform where she set up an account last weekActor Valerie Bertinelli had similarly appropriated Muskrsquos screen name posting a series of tweets in support of Democratic candidates on Saturday before switching back to her true name ldquoOkeydokey Irsquove had fun and I think I made my pointrdquo she tweeted afterwardsTwitter is planning to defer the rollout of the verification check marks to its subscribers of the new 799 a month subscription service until after Tuesdayrsquos midterm elections in the US amid concerns over spread of false information a media report has saidThe midterm elections on November 8 will decide the control of the US Congress and other important governorships A manager working on the verification badge project said ldquowersquove made the decision to move the launch of this release to November 9 after the midterm electionsrdquoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever