Twitter Blue Signups Unavailable After Raft Of Fake Accounts
Newsy
Before Musk took over the social media platform, the blue check was granted to celebrities, journalists and verified by the platform to prevent this.
Twitter's relaunched premium service — which grants blue-check "verification" labels to anyone willing to pay $8 a month — was unavailable Friday after the social media platform was flooded by a wave of imposter accounts approved by Twitter.
Before billionaire Elon Musk took control of the social media platform two weeks ago the blue check was granted to celebrities, journalists and verified by the platform — precisely to prevent impersonation. Now, anyone can get one as long as they have a phone, a credit card and $8 a month.
After an imposter account registered under the revamped Twitter Blue system tweeted that insulin was free, pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co. had to post an apology. Nintendo, Lockheed Martin, Musk's own Tesla and SpaceX were also impersonated as well as the accounts of various professional sports figures.
