SCAMMERS and trolls are taking advantage of Elon Musk’s new Twitter blue-tick verification system, with accounts purporting to be high-profile politicians popping up across the site.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is among those to be impersonated by a fake account, as Musk’s Twitter Blue means anyone can pay £6.99 a month for the check mark to appear beside their name.
Musk has said it is his “top priority” in the coming days to crack down on people pretending to be high-profile figures by using the feature, after incidents included a fake George Bush account telling people he “misses killing Iraqis”.
Major brands – including US healthcare firms – and sports stars have also fallen victim to the fake profiles.
Despite being given warnings for weeks that the paid-for blue-tick system would result in misinformation and fraudsters, Musk finally appeared to react to the concerns late on Thursday night.
“Going forward, accounts engaged in parody must include ‘parody’ in their name, not just in bio,” he informed Twitter.
“To be more precise, accounts doing parody impersonations. Basically, tricking people is not ok.”
The National is aware of at least one blue-tick account using the same profile picture as First Minister Sturgeon which has been granted a verification mark without a “parody” disclaimer in their name.
The false nature of the profile is clear once a user clicks through to the profile, where the account has notably few followers compared to Sturgeon herself.
The fake version of the FM’s account has used Twitter to tell the Scottish Tory leader that “young people hate you” and that he “smells of fish”.
“Your party is done as soon as the pensioners that prop you up are gone,” the fraudster told Douglas Ross.
The impersonator also took aim at Sturgeon’s predecessor, writing to the Alba Party: “Wonder whatever became of that young Alex Salmond chap? I wonder if he’s related to the disgraced former First Minister who only serves to turn moderates off independence.”
Twitter has been asked why the account continues to exist given the new rules on “parody” accounts.
Twitter Blue only went live in the UK on Thursday.
But there was more confusion on Friday morning as the sign-up option for its Twitter Blue subscription disappeared hours after going live and grey “Official” badges returned less than two days after Elon Musk ordered their removal.
It comes as more high-profile staff responsible for vital areas such as trust and safety, data privacy, cyber security, and complying with regulations suddenly left the social media giant.
On Friday morning, the option to sign up for Twitter Blue had vanished from Twitter’s iOS app.
At the same time, new grey Official badges for large organisations began reappearing on some Twitter profiles less than two days after Musk halted their introduction hours after their own initial launch, calling it “an aesthetic nightmare”.
Twitter’s official support account said the grey badges had been reintroduced to help “combat impersonation” on the site.
