Twitter's Blue Tick Used To Promote Fake Accounts

Twitter recently released Twitter Blue and almost immediately, users started taking advantage of the new tool. Accounts were created impersonating politicians including President Biden and celebrities, as well as other notable people. Several also surfaced purporting to be brands, announcing fake news.

Now the social media platform’s new ‘Blue’ subscription service appears to have been paused for new users, after many fake accounts with blue ticks were launched, impersonating famous people and companies.

Shortly after, the company's share price fell 5% on the New York Stock Exchange, with many drawing a link between the false tweet and the fall in share price. The service was brought in by its new owner, Elon Musk, to  replace the old system whereby users had to undergo a verification process to prove they were who they say they are, in order to obtain a blue tick.

In one example, parody accounts of former British and American leaders, Tony Blair and George W. Bush, were created with the blue tick, making crass jokes about the decision to go to war in Iraq. Even Twitter itself wasn’t spared from the wave of jokes. It was impersonated, with a tweet announcing that Twitter Blue would now be free, which was fake.

 Nintendo, Lockheed Martin, Musk’s own Tesla and SpaceX were also impersonated as well as the accounts of various professional sports figures. Users have even been parodying Pope Francis to and the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co was forced to apologise after an impostor account tweeted that insulin was free.

For advertisers who have put their business in Twitter on hold, the fake accounts could be the last straw as Musk’s rocky run atop the platform, laying off half the workforce and triggering high-profile departures, raises questions about its survivability.

While parody accounts are nothing new on the platform, having blue ticks next to their names certainly is. Previously only the genuine person or company would have had the mark, making it easier to distinguish who is a parody and who isn’t. In response, Musk has said from now on parody accounts must clearly state what they are in their titles, and not just in their bios.

There are fears that harmful fake news and not just comedic impersonations, could also spiral out of control under the new system.

As Twitter has hundreds of millions of active users, with many using the site as their principal source of news and information, fake news could spread fast.

Euronews:     Guardian:    Washingtonpost:   Techcrunch:     EconomicTimes:    NDTV:

You Might Also Read: 

British Girl’s Suicide Puts Spotlight On Social Media:

 

« Outsourcing IT Systems & Data Management Can Be A False Economy
Ensure Your Organisation’s Staff Has Cyber Security Awareness For 2023 »

Infosecurity Europe
CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

DigitalStakeout

DigitalStakeout

DigitalStakeout enables cyber security professionals to reduce cyber risk to their organization with proactive security solutions, providing immediate improvement in security posture and ROI.

ZenGRC

ZenGRC

ZenGRC (formerly Reciprocity) is a leader in the GRC SaaS landscape, offering robust and intuitive products designed to make compliance straightforward and efficient.

LockLizard

LockLizard

Locklizard provides PDF DRM software that protects PDF documents from unauthorized access and misuse. Share and sell documents securely - prevent document leakage, sharing and piracy.

Directory of Cyber Security Suppliers

Directory of Cyber Security Suppliers

Our Supplier Directory lists 8,000+ specialist cyber security service providers in 128 countries worldwide. IS YOUR ORGANISATION LISTED?

Clayden Law

Clayden Law

Clayden Law advise global businesses that buy and sell technology products and services. We are experts in information technology, data privacy and cybersecurity law.

Guardtime

Guardtime

Guardtime's Black Lantern platform provides real-time cybersecurity and data-centric asset protection.

Cypress Semiconductor

Cypress Semiconductor

Cypress is a semiconductor design and manufacturing company providing embedded devices for secure IoT applications.

French Expert Center Against Cybercrime (CECyF)

French Expert Center Against Cybercrime (CECyF)

CECyF is a centre of excellence for countering cybercrime in France.

Copenhagen FinTech

Copenhagen FinTech

Copenhagen FinTech is a centre for R&D and innovation in the Danish finance IT sector. Focus areas include cyber security and payments platforms.

ObjectSecurity

ObjectSecurity

ObjectSecurity is a leader in authorization policy automation. With OpenPMF, you can manage application security policies for access control and auditing.

CyberSure

CyberSure

CyberSure is a programme of collaborations and exchanges between researchers aimed at developing a framework for creating and managing cyber insurance policy for cyber systems.

Styra

Styra

Styra allows companies to secure cloud environments and applications, including those built on the popular Kubernetes open-source cloud platform.

Sevatec

Sevatec

Sevatec’s Active Cyber Defense (ACD) methodology proactively defends against adversarial kills chain, addressing active and emerging threats while reducing program vulnerabilities and risks.

Key Cyber Solutions

Key Cyber Solutions

Key Cyber is an IT consulting firm that specializes in agile software development services, program management and infrastructure services, cyber security and cloud and managed services.

Curtail

Curtail

Curtail keeps businesses running by using live traffic analysis to identify defects before software goes live, and detect and isolate security threats before they impact systems.

Marcum Technology

Marcum Technology

Marcum Technology consultants are focused on helping you reach your company’s full potential by exploring creative ways to integrate tomorrow’s technology into your business today.

SNC-Lavalin

SNC-Lavalin

SNC-Lavalin is a fully integrated professional services and project management company with offices around the world.

DEKRA

DEKRA

DEKRA’s promise is to ensure the safety of human interaction with technology and the environment.

Gogolook

Gogolook

Gogolook is a leading TrustTech company. With "Build for Trust" as its core value, it aims to create an AI- and data-driven global anti-fraud network as well as Risk Management as a Service.

Focus Group

Focus Group

Focus Group are one of the UK’s leading independent providers of essential business technology. Here to take care of all your telecoms, IT and connectivity services.

Mesh Security

Mesh Security

Mesh Security transforms security data, tools, and infra for enterprise-wide visibility and control.