Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s personal Twitter account appeared on Saturday to fall for a misleading Twitter account, “Prof.N John Camm,” a profile which is ‘verified’ on Twitter. “India must send @myogiadityanath to France to control riot situation there and My God, he will do it within 24 hours,” the account tweeted on Friday, referring to the violence that has erupted across France following the killing of a teenage boy by police.
While the account has a blue checkmark, and is thus ‘verified’, Twitter has been allowing any account that can pay a monthly or annual subscription to receive the verification. Mr. Adityanath’s personal Twitter handle responded to the account’s tweet. “Whenever extremism fuels riots, chaos engulfs and law & order situation arises in any part of the globe, the World seeks solace and yearns for the transformative ‘Yogi Model’ of Law & Order established by Maharaj Ji in Uttar Pradesh,” the U.P. CM’s account tweeted.
In March, a Twitter user had found that the account was not verified because, as per previous standards on the website, it was of significance; instead, it had a ‘verified’ check mark simply because its owner was paying for Twitter Blue. Rohin Francis, a consulting cardiologist with the United Kingdom-based Essex Cardiothoracic Centre, posted a thread in March with findings of who “N John Camm” really was.
Dubious claims
The account, Dr. Francis said, appeared to be taking advantage of the name of John Camm, a professor of clinical cardiology at St. George’s University in London, who has nothing to do with the account. In messages to The Hindu, the account denied that the individual running it had ever changed his name, and that he was “born to an army father and british mother in Dehradun”.
In response to a request for any personal identity documents, he shared a 2005 fellowship certificate from the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Sciences in Chicago attesting that he “has success fully completed fellow ship program in Complex Angioplasty under Interventional Cardiology Division, for the session; from 1st February,2004 to 30th January,2005.” He refused to share any further documents.
The account has posted a picture of him meeting Mr. Adityanath, and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar; this latter photo, though, appears edited, Dr. Francis said, as the leg of the account owner ends at his knee.
Fake ‘verified’ accounts
Since Twitter stopped so-called “legacy” verifications, the platform has removed blue checkmarks for most users (except those with over a million followers). As a result, any account which can provide an identity proof can get verified, leading to confusion that can hit even major public figures.
In May, a ‘verified’ handle of US House of Representatives member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was able to masquerade as the official one thanks to a blue tick. However, the account was named “Alexandria Ocasio Cortez Press Release (parody),” a name that was shortened when displayed on most mobile devices. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez called out the confusion on Twitter, following which the misleading handle lost its verified status.
