news hardware Nintendo is one of the first victims of Elon Musk’s politics
As expected, Twitter has welcomed its new paid subscription, dubbed Twitter Blue, in a handful of countries. And as expected, the meeting place on the platform is also chaotic, now littered with certified “fake” accounts.
The chaos was predictable, but actually seeing it is mesmerizing. As expected, Elon Musk waited until the end of the US election to actually launch Twitter Blue, Twitter’s new paid service, in a small number of territories. The United States is particularly concerned about this proposal, which allows a certified badge to be purchased for $7.99 per month.
Yesterday, the platform explained that a distinction was made between verified profiles, which are mainly held by personalities, companies or politicians, and “paid” profits. The two then had to be identified via a label displayed under the account identifier. And it really was like that… for about 3 hours.
When Elon Musk breaks everything on Twitter
Influencer Marques Brownlee yesterday Surprised to see it appear and then disappear again, the famous label announced a few hours earlier via Twitter. He then received a reply from Elon Musk: “I just killed him”he announced soberly.
So it seems that the new head of Twitter has killed in the blue bird’s egg one of the few ways to quickly verify what makes a certified account different from an account that simply earned its badge through Twitter Blue. And what had to happen happened!
Nintendo and other brands are paying the price for Twitter Blue
Quickly, Some new Twitter Blue followers have changed their names in a very embarrassing “identity theft” act on the social network. One of the most notable examples is This fake Nintendo accountwho took the title of the official account to post a picture of Mario making an obscene gesture.
A fake Donald Trump accountwhich gave the impression that the former US President had been “unbanned” from Twitter was also illustrated with this tweet: ‘Here’s why Elon Musk’s plan isn’t working’.
We can also mention this fake Valve account, which caused confusion among the studio’s fans by announcing the impending arrival of a game called Ricochet: Neon Prime. Many users of the social network believed that the company would release a new version of its Frisbee game, which was originally released in 2000.
These are just there some examples who testify of the chaos that currently reigns on Twitterwhich could increase in the coming days and weeks, especially as Twitter Blue becomes available in more countries.
A potentially disastrous situation for Twitter
Today, Twitter users can have a hard time telling the difference between real and fake on the platform, which totally goes against what Elon Musk wanted. but the situation could worsen further and put a very dangerous strain on the social network.
Since the takeover by the billionaire Twitter has seen many advertisers flee the platform, spooked by drastic cuts in moderation teams. This debacle could now continue as any brand can be hijacked by a verified account: Hard to imagine that, for example, a company like Nintendo would still want to sponsor tweets on a social network that allow anyone to humiliate their mascotas journalist Jason Schreier rightly points out.
Certainly, Accounts impersonating other accounts will be immediately disabled. But during the time they are active, You have time to go viral and wreak havoc. At this point, one can only wonder what will be the next step in the Twitter affair that never disappoints drama lovers but turns off followers of the online platform.
