Companies wary as Twitter checkmark policy fuels imposter accounts
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[May 02, 2023] By
Hardik Vyas and Sheila Dang
(Reuters) - Twitter's attempt to implement a paid account verification
service has attracted imposters spreading misinformation, which experts
said could lead major brands to further pull back from the social media
platform owned by billionaire Elon Musk.
On April 20, Twitter moved to boost profits by removing the once-coveted
blue check marks from accounts and charging $8 a month to users who wish
to buy a Twitter Blue subscription to retain their verified status.
Musk's latest initiative was met with a wave of imposter accounts
sharing harmful misinformation. Some organizations have already stopped
using Twitter, including the New York City Metropolitan Transportation
Authority (MTA) with 1.3 million followers. Both AT&T Inc and Volkswagen
AG told Reuters they had paused Twitter ads and had not yet resumed as
of April.
Twitter has been hit by a massive decline in advertising since the
acquisition but Musk told the BBC last month most of the advertisers are
returning to the platform.
Data from outside research firms and statements from several advertisers
show Twitter’s ad business may not be bouncing back that quickly.
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"Twitter Blue is a mess. This is more chaos and confusion for brands who
were already wary of impersonation. They don't want to remain on a
platform where they feel vulnerable," said Jasmine Enberg, principal
analyst at Insider Intelligence.
Since Musk bought Twitter in October and began making rapid changes,
brands have been debating whether they should keep advertising on the
platform. Enberg said Twitter's removal of legacy checkmarks could
prompt some companies to stop tweeting and maintaining their profile.
"There's little incentive for brands to keep an organic presence when
they think their brand is at risk, and especially on a platform where
it's not going to drive any meaningful impact," she said.
Rachel Moran-Prestridge, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of
Washington's Center for an Informed Public, said Twitter's checkmarks
for years gave users confidence an account was legitimate.
"Without this verification, users have to do much more heavy lifting to
try to ascertain whether the account is who they say they are," she told
Reuters in an email.
In a move that furthered confusion, Twitter on April 22 appeared to give
some high-profile users a verification mark.
Within the next 48 hours, all but 110 of the most-followed Twitter
accounts suddenly had verification through Twitter Blue, indicating
Twitter likely gifted the check marks, independent researcher Travis
Brown told Reuters.
Neither Twitter nor Musk has commented on the return of the verification
marks for a select few users.
An emailed request for comment to Twitter returned an automated reply
with a poop emoji.
Reuters is a partner of Twitter's Community Notes fact-checking project.
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![](../images/050223PIX/busine44.jpg)
Elon Musk Twitter account verification
badge is seen in this illustration taken November 4, 2022.
REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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A fake account posing as Disney Junior UK, now a defunct TV channel,
last week was issued a gold checkmark used for "verified
organizations". The Walt Disney Co told Reuters it contacted Twitter
and the account was suspended.
New York's MTA said last Thursday it "does not pay tech platforms"
and would stop tweeting service alerts and information.
"The reliability of (Twitter) can no longer be guaranteed," the MTA
said in a statement.
GRADUAL PULLBACK
Since the initial rollout of the Twitter Blue service in November,
imposter tweets have spread harmful misinformation.
U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co watched its stock tumble over 4% and
was forced to apologize after a Twitter user impersonating its
official account posted "insulin is free."
Imposter Twitter accounts also tarnished the online reputations of
Lockheed Martin Corp and Nintendo Co Ltd. Last month, Twitter told
advertisers in an email that businesses spending less than $1,000
per month on Twitter ads must be subscribed to Twitter Blue or pay
to be part of the verified organizations program to keep running ads
on the platform, according to Matt Navarra, a social media
consultant who has worked with Meta and Mozilla.
Eric Yaverbaum, CEO of the New York-based PR agency Ericho
Communications, said more brands are likely to pull away if Twitter
does not implement a stringent user verification model.
"Brands have already stopped ads on Twitter, many won't come back,
and I have a feeling more companies will put an end to advertising
on the platform," Yaverbaum said in an e-mail to Reuters.
Some brands have already taken countermeasures against online
impersonation by retaining the services of brand reputation
management companies.
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Social Impostor CEO Kevin Long said a number of factors attract
online impersonators to a celebrity or brand.
"Just because you had - or will have - a blue verification mark does
not deter the imposters from creating accounts," Long, whose company
took down over 8,000 bogus accounts across major platforms, told
Reuters in an email.
"The volume of imposter accounts seems to depend on several things
-- Is the client doing a high profile event that week? Is the client
in the news for some reason - good or bad? My experience is this is
across all social platforms."
(Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru and Sheila Dang in Dallas;
Editing by David Gregorio)
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