Hajra Naz
The online platform formerly known as Twitter is introducing new classifications to differentiate between fan and parody accounts to make clear the actual purpose of every profile on the network.
From now on, parody and fan accounts will be marked with distinct labels, making it clear that they are not official profiles. The parody label, for instance, will feature an icon of a jester’s hat on the left side.
To avoid suspension, accounts must add these labels. Without them, there’s a risk of being banned.
This change will make it easier for users to recognize when a profile isn’t what it seems, helping to reduce confusion and misrepresentation within the app.
Although Twitter’s previous checkmark system was not flawless, it did help identify official profiles to some extent.
In 2022, after announcing the sale of blue checkmarks, X’s CEO, Elon Musk, stated that parody accounts would need to include the word “parody” in their profile name, not just in their bio. Accounts failing to do so risked being banned. This policy followed a surge in impersonation accounts, where individuals bought blue checkmarks under the “Verified” program and pretended to be celebrities or brands.
The influx of impersonating accounts, which seemed legitimate because of their blue ticks, led to X pausing its verification process to address the confusion it was causing.
The issue stemmed from the sale of blue checkmarks itself. Previously, the verification tick signified that an entity or person had been verified as genuine. Now, anyone can purchase a checkmark and claim to be anyone they wish, with no verification involved. While X has had policies in place for parody and impersonation accounts, they’ve not been sufficient to prevent people from misrepresenting themselves.
Even Elon Musk himself was impacted by this, as shown in an example where his handle was incorrectly used. This misrepresentation misled users, leading to the rapid spread of misleading posts. This may be one of the reasons X is working to differentiate genuine accounts from satirical ones.
Another motivating factor for this change is to regain the trust of brands. Some businesses have pulled away from X due to the growing number of impersonating accounts.
With fewer moderators, X has limited capacity to identify and address these issues. The introduction of a voluntary “parody” label could help mitigate the problem, potentially restoring the platform’s reputation with brands.
Ultimately, this issue arose from X’s own decisions, as many predicted would happen when blue checkmarks were sold. It appears X has come to understand the consequences, albeit the hard way. But it’s a lesson learned over time.
