Twitter To Ban Accounts Impersonating Others; Won’t Allow Name Change After Blue Tick

Twitter started rolling out the revamped and pricier Twitter Blue subscription today. Although the global rollout could take a little while, Elon Musk has already started using the same to address some of the issues Twitter has been facing. Moving forward, any Twitter user discovered to be impersonating another person could face immediate suspension. Not every account is in danger of being suspended without warning. Let's look at the tweaked rules and their implications.

Twitter Will Suspend Certain Accounts Without Any Warning

Elon Musk has long chastised Twitter and its administration for being opaque about bots and other troublesome accounts. He has criticized the management for allegedly hiding information, which allegedly resulted in him "overpaying" for Twitter. Now that Elon Musk is the sole board member and CEO of Twitter, he believes the new Twitter Blue subscription could help in addressing some persistent issues.

Elon Musk has indicated that moving forward, Twitter handles (accounts) engaged in impersonation will be permanently suspended. The only way to avoid a suspension would be to clearly declare that the account is a "parody" account. Additionally, Twitter will temporarily remove the blue checkmark if a Twitter Blue subscriber changes the name associated with the account.

Previously, we issued a warning before suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning.

This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2022

Simply put, an account impersonating another person or their account, would have to clearly declare that they do not represent the actual person. The disclaimer might alert Twitter users and ensure they shouldn't take such accounts very seriously.

As evident from Musk's follow-up tweet, Twitter had a policy for such cases. However, Musk has clarified that Twitter won't issue a warning as it did before his takeover of the platform. The platform would move straight to suspending the account.

Will Musk's Policy Address Twitter's Problems?

Musk has indicated that the policy to swiftly ban a Twitter account, found to be impersonating someone else without an open disclaimer, is based on the new Twitter Blue subscription.

Important or famous personalities are often impersonated on Twitter. Traditionally, Twitter has verified the accounts of influential personalities and awarded them a blue checkmark. Now that Twitter Blue subscription will include the new verification system, the blue checkmark could become common. This is because the $7.99 per month subscription will include the blue tick, "just like the celebrities, companies, and politicians".

Twitter app on iOS has been updated and you can now pay to be verified and the default notifications tab is to show you replies & mentions from paid users. pic.twitter.com/XlGrxKXbNh

— Dare Obasanjo 🐀 (@Carnage4Life) November 5, 2022

Needless to mention, as the blue tick mark can essentially be bought with every Twitter Blue subscription, it will be available to many more users or accounts. This significantly increases the chances of impersonation. Accounts impersonating influential personalities could spread misinformation, and with a blue checkmark, such false, misleading, or even damaging information might be considered credible and could spread quickly.

Incidentally, Twitter has discovered such accounts in the past, but the process to ban them was slow. Moreover, if these accounts had a blue tick, then it might have been even harder to suspend or remove them.