Fake Twitter accounts of athletes and other celebrities, some now suspended, are spreading fake announcements and chaos as paid Blue checkmarks become available
Twitter’s paid-check rollout turned a previously identity-linked signal into a purchasable feature, immediately exposing how easily recognizable names could be used to lend false announcements credibility. The later restoration of checkmarks to high-follower accounts that denied subscribing shows that the meaning of the badge remained contested well beyond the initial rollout.
The episode sits at the start of a broader Blue-policy cycle in which Twitter also gave some critics unwanted Blue checkmarks, further weakening the badge as a clear statement of either identity or voluntary subscription.
First-order effects
Athletes, celebrities, and their audiences face false announcements from impostor accounts carrying the new paid verification signal, while Twitter must suspend the accounts already identified.
Twitter’s Blue product loses immediate trust value when a paid badge can appear alongside high-profile impersonation.
Second-order effects
Public figures and organizations must rely more heavily on account handles and off-platform confirmation rather than the checkmark when communicating announcements.
Twitter’s moderation teams face a sharper trade-off: rapid enforcement against impersonation is needed to protect the paid product, but suspensions arrive after misleading posts can circulate.
Third-order effects
If verification remains both purchasable and inconsistently assigned, platform identity signals shift from a trust credential toward a subscription feature that users must independently verify.
The episode points to a broader synthetic-supply problem: scaling a visible platform signal without equally scalable identity controls increases the value of impersonation for attention-seeking accounts.
The trend: Social platforms are monetizing visibility and verification features while having to rebuild the identity safeguards that made those signals useful.
First account is the verified official one. Second is a $8 fake thanks to the Musk subscription. Easy to tell when you look at the follower count, very, very hard to tell when shared into your feed. Impossible actually without clicking through. HT @meemalee for spotting. https://…
Spokesperson for pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly says they're in communication with Twitter to address the fake-but-verified Eli Lilly tweet that has been up for three hours and has 1,500 retweets and 10,000 likes https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
Twitter Blue is going about as well as everyone predicted, and it's an amazing spectacle to watch. Like a train crash filled with glitter. https://twitter.com/...
@elonmusk, from one entrepreneur to another, for when you have your customer service hat on. I just spent too much time muting all the newly purchased checkmark accts in an attempt to make my verified mentions useful again. Hope this helps.
A billionaire, well respected, and unbiased shared his thoughts — I would suggest the pros & cons of the $8 checkmark should take a few minutes to read it. https://twitter.com/...
Say what you will about Twitter Blue's paid checkmarks, but it gave me an excuse to put Mario flipping the bird on the front page of Ars Technica https://arstechnica.com/...
The thing that really gets me about this: All Twitter Blue users have a credit card, right? It would be *trivial* for Twitter to force them to use the name on their Credit Card in exchange for being “verified.” Would immediately solve this problem for good https://twitter.com/...
The new check mark system has resulted in Threat Actors successfully impersonating Twitter and defrauding users out of money Although the account is now suspended, it rapidly got 35,000+ retweets and 4,990 likes. A simple $8 investment can result in thousands of dollars stolen. h…
Oh my god shut up shut UP SHUT THE FUCK UP YOURE JUST SAYING RANDOM SHIT! “Twitter will be the go to source of information”, “Twitter will be a financial marketplace”, “Twitter will be better than signal for secure messaging” you're so full of shit, SHUT THE FUCK UP, JESUS https:…
📢 We've heard you! After a LOT of feedback from Ambassadors and Partners the sub split will be changing from December: 👉 Ambassadors 80/20 👉 Partners 70/30 👉 Affiliates 60/40 👉 Non Affiliates 50/50 📚 https://link.twitch.tv/...
Following sports transactions and news could become a total mess with the new verification system Already fake LeBron and Aroldis Chapman tweets going around https://twitter.com/...
you guys, you cannot make this up but twitter has REVERSED COURSE on elon reversing course on the “official ticks.” they're back!!! https://www.theverge.com/...
lmao Twitter built the “this mf paid for twitter” meme right into its paid Twitter Blue subscription if you click a blue checkmark on a user's profile, it'll show you if they were given one as an actual notable user or it'll show you that this mf paid for twitter https://twitter.…