Twitter Users Impersonate Verified Celebrities With Blue Subscription Check Marks

Not long after new Twitter CEO Elon Musk rolled out a paid subscription that allows users to buy a blue check mark, some people began abusing the service, impersonating verified athletes, brands and celebrities. NBC News’ Kalhan Rosenblatt explains how Musk is responding to the impersonations and how it could impact Twitter’s relationship with advertisers. 

Connect with NBC News Online!

#Twitter #ElonMusk #Musk

[traildoggy]

At $8 to mock a famous person, that's quite a deal.

[NebraskaGonvilleJones]

Musk has always been socially awkward. Why would he think his skill set would be perfect for a social network? Ah yes, narcissism my -only- old friend

[ruthdepew]

I knew from the very beginning that having someone with negative social skills running a social media platform was a very bad idea, but it is much worse, much more quickly than I thought. It seems that poor Musk's tenure at twitter will be shorter than Liz Truss's tenure at Number Ten Downing.

[cann]

This is absolutely hilarious. The internet is king.

[Garnishes]

i never understood why Twitter wouldn't just create a separate indicator for Paid Premium features. They've relegated actual verification to a grey official check mark and use blue check mark for paid subscriptions when it should be the other way around because the blue check mark is essentially indicating verification for the LONGEST time.

[carlam]

PayPal was the first online account I had to be verified for, the irony.

[kacornish]

Congratulations Elon, you made Twitter WORSE, LOL… I didn’t think it was possible.

[benbaggen]

Who cares....Twitters not a real place

[Xx-pofu]

So you can't believe anything on Twitter now, a person can pay $8 for a blue subscription and claim to be anyone.

[koda]

LOL. Did we expect anything different? What a 'genius', 'eh? 😂😂😂
*#Twitter** **#BlueCheckMark** **#ElonMark*

[csibesz]

Lmao. He said he'd try to eliminate scammers, not encourage them...

[dtxgmoney]

Making it the same icon as a verified user they should've seen this coming. It should be the twitter birb with a white B in the middle but that defeats the allure of having a checkmark like the real verified users which is why people are paying.

[madhabitz]

Musk is like the Roller-in-Chief, so I can't imagine that he didn't see this outcome. On the other hand, as a full blown narcissist, I can see how he would firmly believe that nobody was as smart as he is, so no way would anyone else be smart enough to think stuff like this up.

[avinashbhujan]

Great, I'll impersonate God on twitter!

[frankorandle]

Watching the downfall of twitter is very enjoyable. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Karma.

[ryanreedgibson]

All you have to do is create a username with the object inserted.

[deusbeowulf]

Elon Muskrat bought a lemon and can’t admit it. I wish him the best on the rest of his endeavors with electric spaceships and rat tunnels. Maybe that will work out!

[Shag]

In a nutshell, Elon’s plan isn’t working.

[cl]

Is Elon Musk trying to be helpful to America or hurtful. I'm not sure yet but it's definitely pointing to not so helpful. Elon focus on being innovative hiring all this brilliant American talent to put your ideas together. Stay away from the politics. Be a master at innovation. Leave politics to the politicians.

[hansudowolfrahm]

Trolls spending 8$ for 2 days of fun
Elon: Getting 8$ for every troll
I don't see the problem here, seems like everyone has fun 😂