Accounts that impersonate other people for the purpose of comedy are exempt from the site’s policies. However, scammers frequently exploit this loophole by impersonating other well-known users in order to dupe people into scams or amp up their content.
X has struggled with such accounts since shortly after Mr Musk purchased the platform, which was then known as Twitter.
One of his first decisions was to remove the “verified” badges that had previously been used to show that an account belonged to the person who claimed it, and to allow people to pay for the small blue checkmarks. This enabled anyone to change their name and image to that of another account, making it relatively simple to impersonate other users.
Soon after, the site banned accounts claiming to be other users, but left a loophole for parody accounts, presumably in line with Musk’s claimed commitment to free speech and comedy. Those accounts were required to clearly state that they were parody accounts, but many simply put the message at the end of their name, and character limits meant that it did not always show clearly.
This has enabled many users to pose as Elon Musk and engage in cryptocurrency scams and other deceptive behavior. A recent post claiming to be by him and asking users to like a comment for a chance to win a Tesla has received hundreds of thousands of interactions.
Now, X says that those parody accounts will have to add keywords to the front of their names and will no longer be able to use the same images as the accounts they “depict”.
“These changes are designed to help users better understand the unaffiliated nature of PCF accounts and reduce the risk of confusion or impersonation,” according to the organization. We encourage all affected accounts to update their profiles prior to the enforcement date.
The new rules will go into effect on April 10.
