Paid Blue Checkmarks, Fake Twitter Accounts Of LeBron James And Jesus Christ Appear Like Official

JAKARTA – At a time when Twitter was struggling to suppress impersonating accounts following changes to the platform verification system by the new CEO Elon Musk, fake accounts appeared on the platform.

Users have seen a wave of accounts that can easily impersonate celebrities by changing the name on their account and paying a subscription fee to get the blue tick next to it.

For example, Twitter user @nlntendodoofus could change their account name to 'Nintendo of America' and get a blue tick to make it look official.

Prior to the suspension, the fake Nintendo account tweeted an image of the Japanese company's mascot Mario with his middle finger facing up.

Meanwhile, LeBron James' parody account claims the basketball player has officially requested a swap from his current team, the LA Lakers, to another team.

Another bogus account fooled users by impersonating former US President Donald Trump who simply tweeted: 'This is why Elon Musk's plan didn't work.'

Another bogus account also impersonated former President George W. Bush, who posted ominous tweets about Iraq, and a bogus account of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani also appeared.

Jesus' Twitter account

Bahlan appeared an account with the name Jesus Christ, which became the main parody account on Twitter, and also got verified with a blue tick. This makes it seem like a real god and human savior on Twitter. Though the account does not include a parody name as required by Twitter.

While many of the tweets have a humorous side, experts worry that Musk's changes make misinformation on the platform worse.

Impersonating famous people is nothing new on Twitter, but the changes Musk is making mean these imitators can get a blue tick and make their fake posts appear more trustworthy.

Most of the fake accounts with blue ticks appear to have been suspended, although some are still active for a few hours. The Twitter Support Account said it was "aggressively pursuing impersonation and fraud".

As reported by the Daily Mail. another fake account impersonating The Carter Center claimed that 98-year-old former US President Jimmy Carter had died, this became fake news which was then widely retweeted. However, this fake account, is now suspended, and doesn't have the blue tick anymore.

New Twitter CEO Elon Musk says users can expect to see "a lot of stupid stuff" on the site in the coming months, and this appears to be the emergence of these fake accounts to be one of them.

Since taking over Twitter at the end of last month, one of the biggest changes Musk has made has been to the social media platform's verification system.

Previously, a blue tick at the end of an account name indicated that the account belonged to someone of public interest, such as a celebrity, politician, or journalist, and had been verified and guaranteed to be authentic.

Blue ticks serve as a useful visual indicator to let other users know that an account marks the official home of the user it claims to represent, and not an impersonator.

But, as Twitter's recently modified help page makes clear, all of this changed following Musk's October takeover.

Now, anyone can get a blue tick next to their name to indicate that their account is verified as long as they pay $8 for Twitter Blue, the platform's monthly subscription service that grants access to several exclusive features.

The thing is, Twitter users can now change their account name and photo to make it look like an official account, like Nintendo America or Donald Trump, and get a blue tick next to it, as long as they pay for Twitter Blue.

Twitter is still transitioning from the old meaning of blue tick to the new meaning, so there are still many accounts with blue ticks belonging to users verified under the new system who have not paid for Twitter Blue.

Twitter Blue also hasn't rolled out globally yet, although it's just rolling out to iOS users in the UK.