Because of the blue tick disaster
Influential US Senator Threatens Elon Musk
Elon Musk, the new head of Twitter, directs a public exchange of strikes on Twitter with a US senator. This is about scam real fake accounts. Musk faces a subpoena from the Senate.
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US Senator Ed Markey…
This warning is in effect: “Regulate your business. Or Congress will do it,” influential US Senator Ed Markey (76), a Democrat, wrote Sunday to the address of new Twitter owner Elon Musk (51).
It’s the blue check mark on Twitter: “The Washington Post” created a fake account as an experiment. The account led users to believe it belonged to politician Ed Markey – and Twitter quickly gave it a blue tick, which was in fact supposed to validate the accounts.
This is made possible with the new procedure, whereby verification marks previously awarded to celebrities, politicians and companies are given after screening to all users who pay eight dollars per month in subscription fees. There is no identity verification. The hash code looks the same in both cases. Only when you click on it an explanatory text is displayed, whether the account got a mark for its importance – or because the user paid for it.
Fake Chiquita too
In his view, Musk said, authentication through payment services and application platforms should protect against abuse of the new system. But it did not stop many users from spending $8 to create fake accounts of celebrities and companies with verification marks.
Sports stars have struck out, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Chiquita that specializes in the fruit, among others. Twitter suspended subscription functionality for the weekend. Musk wrote on Twitter that it probably shouldn’t be activated again until the end of the week. However, checkmarks already set in this way are still displayed.
In the case of American politician Ed Markey, it is clear that all security measures failed: the fake account created by the Washington Post indicates that it was verified because of its importance, and not for payment. In addition, the Democratic senator had official profiles with the service for a long time.
He then accused Marky Musk of making Twitter the “wild west of social media” by making “rapid and random” changes to the platform. “This is unacceptable,” Markey wrote, requesting clarification from Musk about the verification regime.
Musk responds to criticism
Musk responded defiantly on Twitter: “Maybe because her real account appears as a parody?” Markey then reminded him that Twitter had to make commitments to the powerful Consumer Protection Agency (FTC) and that Musk’s electric car maker Tesla was under investigation by the NHTSA over the deaths.
The Senate can summon the company’s presidents for hearings. After the last parliamentary elections, Democrats are already expected to retain control of the House of Representatives. (SDA/sfa)
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