Democratic Senator Ancam Elon Musk To Immediately Improve Twitter Management

US Democratic Senator Ed Markey warned Elon Musk. (photo: Twitter @SenMarkey)

JAKARTA - Senator Ed Markey of the US Democratic Party warned Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter. "Repair your company. Or Congress will," Markey said in his tweet on social media.

The warning comes after Musk cynically responded to senators' concerns about fake verified accounts on Twitter, and suggested Markey's original account "heard like a parody."

On Friday, Markey sent a tweet containing a link to a letter he wrote to Musk criticizing Blue who had to subscribe to $8 per month but a verified account sign appeared.

One of your companies is under an FTC consent decree. Auto safety watchdog NHTSA is investigating another for killing people. And you’re spending your time picking fights online. Fix your companies. Or Congress will. https://t.co/lE178gPRoM

— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) November 13, 2022

The letter cites a report from the Washington Post detailing how a reporter can easily create a fake verified account that imitates Markey and asks Musk to address the issue. Twitter must explain how this happened and how to prevent it from happening again," wrote Markey.

Musk's response was very cynical that the senator was angry. Maybe because my answer account sounds like a parody," Musk tweeted.

Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 13, 2022

The billionaire continued with another tweet about an hour later, saying, "And why do you have a mask?" refers to the Senator's profile picture on Twitter showing him wearing a face covering.

Markey did not respond well to Musk's response and warned that Congress could take action against Musk and his many companies if he did not straighten things out.

One of your companies is under the FTC approval decision. The NHTSA car security watchdog is investigating the other for killing people. And you spend your time fighting online," Markey wrote. Improve your company. Or Congress will do it.

The senator's concerns about identifiability on Twitter are not unfounded. After Twitter launched the ability to pay for verification on iOS last week, a wave of fake verified accounts that mimic high-profile users flooded the platform.

One account that imitated Nintendo posted a picture of Mario turning the bird around, while another pretending to be LeBron James incorrectly claimed that he was planning to leave the Los Angeles Lakers.

Even the parody account @jesus also gets a verification code that makes it look like the original account.

Truth be told https://t.co/xSkQRFRP6o

— Jesus Christ (@jesus) November 11, 2022

Indeed most of these accounts have been deleted, but there are some that have remained online for a long time. Those accounts have the potential to cause damage to the brand or the people they imitate. Musk later announced that Twitter would ban users from imitating others on the platform, but fake accounts are still there, forcing Twitter to shut down all Blue registrations in response.

While Markey clearly does not represent all members of Congress, Democrats will maintain their control in the Senate after a part-time election. Markey is also on a number of committees that could affect Tesla, Musk's company, including the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which has voiced concern over electric vehicle makers' self-driving software several times in the past.