Elon Musk has owned Twitter for just a few short weeks now and he has already made the platform way more interesting.
But not everyone is happy with it.
And Elon Musk had one hilarious response to Ed Markey after the Democrat Senator threatened him.
Account impersonations creating a big problem on Twitter
Elon Musk recently made changes to Twitter’s verification policy and made a shift toward a paid model.
The idea was that he wanted to give the clout of verification to normal users for just $8.
Though the $8 charge was widely debated online and many expressed their issues with the plan – Musk went ahead with the change leading to thousands of accounts being instantly verified.
Following the change, an old issue emerged as a very hot topic.
Twitter started receiving many complaints about account impersonation.
The complaints came from accounts representing people and companies alike.
Some of the accounts have justified complaints.
Eli Lilly, a major pharmaceutical manufacturer, suffered billions of losses on stock valuation following an impersonator who claimed that going forward “all insulin will be free.”
Ed Markey wants to know how a Washington Post reporter was able to impersonate him
Others were just complaining about it to join the hordes who have opposed Musk’s acquisition throughout the process.
Senator Ed Markey was one high profile user that complained about an impersonation despite not actually losing anything from it.
Markey released a letter that he addressed to Musk stating that a reporter from the Washington Post “was able to create a verified account impersonating [Markey].”
He accused Musk of “putting profits over people and his debt over stopping disinformation” and further demanded the company “explain how this happened and how to prevent it from happening again.”
Musk slammed the Senator and says it was easy to impersonate someone who sounded like parody
Musk took no time in responding to Ed Markey, basically insinuating that the Senator from Massachusetts is a joke.
Musk wrote, “Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody?”
This was especially entertaining because Musk has promised leniency for parody accounts and that anyone who is impersonating for sake of parody is safe from suspension.
Markey responded with a veiled threat at Musk’s other companies that are currently being scrutinized by the government.
He said “One of your companies is under an FTC consent decree . . . (and) NHTSA is investigating another for killing people . . .”
He further warned Musk, “Fix your companies. Or Congress will.”
Twitter erupts with comments about Markey being able to make business difficult for Musk
Twitter users quickly pointed out that Markey was on the Subcommittee on Communication, Media, and Broadband as well as the Subcommittee on Space and Science.
Musk brushed off concerns that Markey might use his federal powers to punish Musk for the personal problem with the platform.
He even poked fun at Markey’s for wearing a mask in his profile picture.
Markey’s letter gives Musk until November 25 to answer questions about the process in which they are issuing verified blue check marks for their accounts.
Markey wants to know how the processes changed from the old way.
He also wants Musk to address the reporter who was able to create an account impersonating him.
Perhaps Musk should ask Markey if he was working with the reporter to create the need for this letter.
Or maybe the reporter thought it might be worth their time to impersonate a sitting politician.
Patriot Political will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
