Elon Musk announces ban on unlabelled parody accounts on Twitter

Charlie Herbert

Perhaps Elon Musk doesn’t believe in free speech quite as much as he thinks…

Elon Musk has announced that any parody accounts on Twitter that don’t label themselves clearly as such will be banned from the social media site.

The Tesla CEO says Twitter users engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying it as a parody account will be permanently suspended.

Twitter previously issued a warning before suspending accounts, but there would now be no warning, he announced.

The SpaceX founder indicated he was taking his “Chief Tweet” role seriously as he addressed fake accounts just weeks after officially acquiring Twitter for $44 billion following months of legal wrangling.

“Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying ‘parody’ will be permanently suspended,” he wrote on Sunday night.

“Previously, we issued a warning before suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning. This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue.”

Previously, we issued a warning before suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning.

This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2022

The announcement comes after a number of parody accounts poking fun at Musk appeared on the platform, including one set up by American comedian Kathy Griffin.

Despite her handle showing her own @kathygriffin name, the moniker by her blue checkmark said “Elon Musk” — which goes against the company policy against impersonation.

American cartoonist Jeph Jacques also set up a Musk parody account, and has also been banned from the platform as a result.

If you're looking for the Jeph Jacques tweets that got him kicked off Twitter baby you know I screenshotted all of them pic.twitter.com/eXk3RR7G2t

— Elizabeth Deanna Morris Lakes (@exclamate_) November 7, 2022

Many have pointed out Musk’s hypocrisy by banning parody accounts. In the days following his acquisition of Twitter, he had boasted that “comedy is now legal on Twitter.”

The action against parody accounts also seems to go against his supposed strong belief in free speech on the platform.

Well not ALL comedy I guess pic.twitter.com/1HRtn7uHV9

— Jon Moore from LA (@jonfromla) November 6, 2022

The billionaire has already fired top execs, and changed its homepage for logged out users.

With the help of Tesla engineers he has brought into Twitter as advisors, he’s also planning mass layoffs aimed at middle managers and engineers who haven’t recently contributed to the code base.

Musk has also decided to bin Twitter’s entire board and make himself the “sole director” of the company, and has introduced a subscription service allowing users to buy blue-tick verification for a monthly fee of $7.99 (£7).

Available in the UK, as well as the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the update said the service will provide: “Power to the people: your account will get a blue checkmark, just like the celebrities, companies, and politicians you already follow.”

Other features promised to be “coming soon” include half the number of adverts, the ability to post longer videos and priority ranking for content posted on the platform.

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