Twitter will start eliminating accounts that impersonate others, according to Elon Musk, who issued the warning in response to criticism the entrepreneur has received for making the blue checkmark available to all users.
He declared on Sunday that any accounts “engaged in impersonation without explicitly stating ‘parody’ will be permanently suspended,” after numerous celebrities adopted Elon Musk’s screen name as a form of protest against the new Twitter owner’s revision of the verification requirements.
“In the past, we have given notice before suspension; but, since we are doing widespread verification, there will be no notice. This will be made clear as a requirement for joining Twitter Blue, he continued.
On Saturday, Musk unveiled his new Twitter Blue subscription programme, which would cost subscribers $7.99 per month and give them all the coveted blue checkmark.
In order to prevent celebrities and politicians from being impersonated, Twitter introduced the verification system in 2009.
The platform’s 238 million daily users could identify which accounts were genuine thanks to the platform’s approximately 423,000 verified accounts prior to Musk’s takeover.
Later, he tweeted, “Widespread verification will democratise media & empower the voice of the people.”