Elon Musk's X launches a crackdown on “imitation” accounts after removing tools that block them

Elon Musk's X said it is launching a crackdown on the “imitation” account.

If other people are marked as comedy, the site can exempt the account, which will impersonate others. However, often, this vulnerability is used by scammers pretending to be other well-known users, trying to trick people into scams or amplify their content.

X has been fighting such accounts shortly after Mr. Musk bought the platform.

One of his first decisions was to remove the “verified” badge, until then it was proved that an account really belonged to the person it claimed and allowed people to pay for the small blue check mark. This allows anyone to change their name and image to the name of another account and makes it relatively easy for other users.

Soon after, the site introduced a ban on accounts claiming to be other users, but left loopholes for these parody accounts, apparently in line with Musk's claim to promise freedom of speech and comedy freedom. These accounts are asked to clearly state that they are parody accounts – but many people just make messages at the end of their names, while role limits mean it is often unclear.

This allows many users to pose as Elon Musk and engage in cryptocurrency scams and other misleading behaviors. Recently claimed to be one of his articles and asked users to like comments for a chance to get Tesla, have interacted with hundreds of thousands of times.

Now, X says, these imitation accounts will be asked to prefix their names and will no longer be able to use the same pictures of the accounts they “depicted”.

“These changes are intended to help users better understand the non-attached attributes of PCF accounts and reduce the risk of confusion or imitation,” the company said. We encourage all affected accounts to update their profile before the execution date. ”

The new regulations will come into effect on April 10.