A columnist fooled Elon Musk with his new Twitter verification system, pretending to be a US senator.

Washington Post columnist says he created a fake Twitter account for Senator Ed Markey. AP Photo/Alex Brandon.
Geoffrey Fowler, Washington Post columnist, successfully manipulated Twitter’s new verification process. He paid $8 to get a Twitter Blue account. Elon Musk wanted to ensure that it could detect imposters.

Geoffrey Fowler, Washington Post columnist, has again fooled Elon Musk’s twitter by creating a fake verified Twitter account for Democratic Senator Ed Markey. Twitter has since removed the account.

Fowler stated that the experiment, which was done with Massachusetts Senator Markey’s approval showed how easy it is for site users to be duped, even under Twitter’s new and improved verification service.

He wrote that he used a dormant account of a colleague, tied it to a number, and paid $7.99 for a monthly Twitter Blue membership. He said that he didn’t need to present any proof of identity or proof that he was the person he claimed to have been.

Fowler wrote that “After seven days, the fake Markey account had a blue checkmark, without any questions asked.”

Insider requested comment but Twitter didn’t immediately respond.

In October 2017, Elon Musk assumed control of Twitter. He wanted to replace the verification process that allowed celebrities, government officials, established news outlets, journalists and journalists to verify their accounts. Instead, he wanted Twitter Blue to allow users to pay for verification.

This led to confusion and hijinks. Multiple fake accounts pretending to be Eli Lilly, Insulin manufacturer, made claims about the price of the treatment. The stock price of the drugmaker fell 4.4% that day.

Fowler claimed that it took him just minutes to create his first fake verified Markey account.

Twitter placed Twitter Blue on Hold in November. Musk stated that the platform needed additional time to protect against impersonation “highly confident”.

The company had to reboot the service last month because it had corrected the gatekeeping problems that caused chaotic episodes on the platform. Twitter asks paid users to connect their phone numbers to their accounts to help them maintain credibility.

In a statement to Insider, Markey called the ongoing verification problems an “absolute joke”.

He stated that Twitter’s current leadership had failed to protect the platform from misinformation and failed to answer my simple questions about their anti-fraud protocols. He also failed to show appreciation for the role their platform plays in democracy. It’s much easier to get a check mark than to get an answer straight from Elon Musk.

Business Insider has the original article.
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By: insider@insider.com (Sindhu Sundar)
Title: A columnist easily tricked Elon Musk’s new Twitter verification system by posing as a US senator
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/columnist-tricks-elon-musk-new-twitter-blue-verification-impersonating-senator-2023-1
Published Date: Thu, 05 Jan 2023 17:31:17 +0000