inactive
Geoffrey A. FowlerOops! I did it again:
I created a Twitter account pretending to be Senator Ed Markey (with his permission) and applied for Blue “verification.”
And once again, Twitter took my $8, asked zero questions and gave the fake account a blue checkmark.
Eric Dannewitz@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost
Sad.....Elon really just doesn't give a shit does he? Unless it is someone doing it to him, then it matters. Otherwise.....eh.....🤷♂️
Andrew Feeney@ericdano @geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost It might be this but it’s also that he drastically underestimates how hard it is to combat this and overestimates how easy it would be to solve it with machine learning or crowd sourcing or both. Twitter’s existing system was far from perfect but it was that way after fifteen years of iterations by some of the world’s top tech and social science talent.
Christopher Mims@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost truly amazing
Paulina 
has become a cesspool of ineptitude and quite frankly, dangerous.
Christopher Øien@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost Yeah, Elon wants to save money, doesn't matter to him how it can ruin peoples lives.
Max Rees@geoffreyfowler when did they add the "It may or may not be notable" text to the "legacy" verified dialog? 💀
Greg Ory@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost I’m confused by the gif, if you created this account new, why is the joined date 2010? Did you repurpose a different account?
Nice to see the bluebird upholding such high ideals.
The Ident Gallery@theidentgallery @geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost thanks for the heads up - article is paywalled so cannot read it.
Julian ♪🌻🥥🌴♫@leffie @theidentgallery @geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost The account has to be a couple of months old before it can be >>'"verified"'<<
@leffie @geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost Ah, it's not for me. Basically they said they needed an account that was several months old as new accounts aren't eligible for Blue.
Badri@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost gosh, Twitter's really lowered the threshold for entering politics huh? Now anyone with eight bucks can become senator! Long live democracy 😛
Iron Curtain (Chiptunes)@badri @geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost
Like the days of Athenian democracy, when leaders were chosen via sortition.
Moniker Zero@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost you should not have given him money.
Kimberly
Jason Levine@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost Yeah, that new verification process is going really, really well.
stux⚡️@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost it’s Elon only about the money… making up for his loss
DcircleF@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost
Seems potentially confusing. 🤣
K`Tetch@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost seems the only thing that is verified is "has $8"
Richservo 
@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost it's strange that they are validating via payment (not even a payment form belonging to the owner of the account). It's not validation it's subscription and it invalidates the point of the check.
nadin brzezinski
Sebastian Blanco@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost this is good work, but I HIGHLY doubt the problem is that Elon doesn’t understand the dangers of misinformation. I believe it’s more that Elon and his ilk value the power that misinformation gives them, the chaos it creates so they can get away with things.
Klaus Stein@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost Let me guess: Twitter tries to survive the next months with the money from people testing the Blue verification?
Dibley@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost all the scammers are front and centre if you just look.
Kevin Karhan 
@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost at this point, it's safe to assume #Twitter didn't #verify shit and just throws around with 
badges to everyone paying...
badges to everyone paying...
superkill3✔️@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost that some premium vetting xd
YetAnotherGeekGuy 
joe@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost
looks more like ed *malarkey* if you know what i mean
Earthling@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost Why any public figure is still on that site is beyond me.
Tracy@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost
I sure hope massive numbers of people sue Elon's ass for this fraud-enabling fiasco.
It poses such a DANGER to America...and the world.
It stokes confusion & total chaos...
as Musk sits back & watches the "Gladiator Games" play out.
A true sociopath or psychopath loves to 'set fire to a scene' just to watch the death & destruction with enjoyment.
I sure hope massive numbers of people sue Elon's ass for this fraud-enabling fiasco.
It poses such a DANGER to America...and the world.
It stokes confusion & total chaos...
as Musk sits back & watches the "Gladiator Games" play out.
A true sociopath or psychopath loves to 'set fire to a scene' just to watch the death & destruction with enjoyment.
caseyjonesed@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost I’d ask for my $8 back.
DeeDee@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost yet I was it in twitmo for calling gop white trash 🙄
Kyle Taylor@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost Sadly, Twitter probably does not have the staff left to review account requests. In the future Mastodon will also have problems dealing with fake accounts -- once folks figure out how to use it. What is the account review process like for @federated.press?
Nicole Parsons@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost
The $8 is a trivial revenue source.
The big money would be from suspending the accounts of irritants like journalists, whistle-blowers, public ethics, political opponents, business rivals, etc.
Koch would pay to close the accounts of climate advocates.
Thiel paying to shut down Sen. Whitehouse's account over dark money.
Ellison & Uihlein want the funding of Jan 6 kept secret.
Griffin, Schwarzman, & Schwab want to buy the next election without fanfare.
Joe Levy@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost as your first piece of legislation, Senator, you should criminalize the weaponized stupidity that enabled this.
The easy fix for that is to block verification of accounts that changed the name, or were created in the last 30 days, without some sort of verification. It should not have verified you summarily.
Lucy@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost its not a verification that the user is real... As the little info text explains (that you hid) one is verified and the other bought twitter blue.
KS2 Problema
geoffreygevalt@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost nah. Twitter ain't broken.
pls@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost I don't know what you were trying to prove there but there was no issue with one person having multiple accounts and getting them verified before Elon. Bernie & Liz Warren both have two accounts
Louie
Joao P Genari@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost that's crazy.
Julian@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost working as intended?
David@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost I particularly “like” how they put the “may or may not be notable” text there to cast doubt on the legitimate account!
Rednekulo@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost
Maybe this is Musk's new business model. He got $8 from you, after all. He'll keep claiming to have fixed verification, and then each time you come by and give him $8.
Maybe this is Musk's new business model. He got $8 from you, after all. He'll keep claiming to have fixed verification, and then each time you come by and give him $8.
Chris Glass@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost I saw SATAN (@s8n) today as a verified account.
It's still a total joke. But I think what's more impressive is that there's so few impersonations now because the fun part of Twitter has evaporated.
It's still a total joke. But I think what's more impressive is that there's so few impersonations now because the fun part of Twitter has evaporated.
Thomas@washingtonpost @geoffreyfowler In other news, you were just elected Speaker of the House! Congrats! 🥂
Ella Fox
Will Oremus@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost 🎶 you’re not that innocent 🎶
Marisa
eth0@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost @GossiTheDog When you think you’re god and you magic power is money and influence. Time to time people will surprise you, and then it will be late. Enjoy your purchase Mr Musk. Hopefully I’m wrong.
Avoid The Hack!@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost
Feature, not a bug.
Dani (She/They)@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost was there a reason for this? As far as I’m aware this behaviour was widely known
MaggieL@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost
They took my $8 for my banned account, then wouldn't unban it.
wascaliwabbit@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost Musk fired all the people responsible for doing anything buy collecting $$
Ecthompsonmd
AmicusOpus@geoffreyfowler @washingtonpost
LOL! "...may or may not be notable..."
/all automation, no quality control