Musk threatens to boot Twitter account impersonators

Elon Musk

Elon Musk tweeted Sunday that Twitter will permanently suspend any account on the social media platform that impersonates another.

The platform's new owner issued the warning after some celebrities changed their Twitter display names - not their account names - and tweeted as Elon Musk' in reaction to the billionaire's decision to offer verified accounts to all comers for $8 month as he simultaneously laid off a big chunk of the workforce.

"Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying ‘parody; will be permanently suspended," Musk wrote. While Twitter previously issued warnings before suspensions, now that it is rolling out ‘widespread verification,' there will be no warning "In fact, ‘any name change at all' would compel the temporary loss of a verified checkmark," the world's richest man said.

Comedian 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 photo.

"I guess not ALL the content moderators were let go? Lol," Griffin joked afterward on Mastodon, an alternative social media platform where she set up an account last week.

Actor Valerie Bertinelli had similarly appropriated Musk's screen name - posting a series of tweets in support of Democratic candidates on Saturday before switching back to her true name. "Okey-dokey. I've had fun and I think I made my point," she tweeted afterwards.

Twitter is planning to defer the rollout of the verification check marks to its subscribers of the new $7.99 a month subscription service until after Tuesday's midterm elections in the US, amid concerns over spread of false information, a media report has said.

The 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 "we've made the decision to move the launch of this release to November 9, after the midterm elections."

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