The far left’s meltdown over Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter got real in the past two days. Following a Musk announcement that so-called verified users risked suspension if they engaged in making fake accounts impersonating other users, unless they expressly label them as a parody accounts, some verified users were suspended after specifically targeting Musk himself with fake accounts.
“We are implementing additional safeguards to prevent impersonation, as well as collective use of Verified accounts by a single individual or organization,” Musk tweeted on Sunday.
“Widespread verification will democratize journalism & empower the voice of the people,” Musk wrote.
“Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying ‘parody’ will be permanently suspended,” the Tesla founder warned.
“Previously, we issued a warning before suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning,” Musk announced. “This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue.”
So, even though they were properly warned, like naughty children testing their limits, comedian Kathy Griffin and left-wing podcast host Ethan Klein couldn’t resist making fake accounts of Musk himself. Both accounts were quickly suspended, and if Musk holds to his policy, the suspensions will be permanent.
Typically, Griffin was unimaginative in her fraudulent posts impersonating Musk, tweeting the faux Musk’s support for Democrat candidates ahead of the midterm elections.
Later Musk joked, “Actually, she (Griffin) was suspended for impersonating a comedian.” Musk later joked that she could have her account back, “for $8.”
Eight dollars is the new monthly fee that so-called verified users must pay in order to maintain their “blue check mark” status.
For a time, Griffin continued to tweet on the account of her deceased mother. Eventually, the has-been comedian moved on to her account at Mastadon, a Twitter alternative.
“Hooboy! Elon just tweeted me on [my mother’s] Twitter account,” Griffin posted. “HE’S SUCH A DRAMA QUEEN.”
Klein, on the other hand, used his fake Musk posts to suggest that the Tesla owner was feeling some sadness over the death of his “friend,” the deceased child sex slaver Jeffery Epstein.
Klein used another platform, the Chinese Communist Party favorite TikTok, to vent his disappointment of his Twitter suspension: “Dear friends, supporters and haters alike, I come to you this evening with terrible news. I’ve been permanently banned on Twitter by the supposed free speech warrior Elon Musk,” Klein said.
“Comedy is dead, and Elon Musk dug the grave,” said Klein in an apparent attempt at humor. “Shame on you.”
Former National Football League punter and science fiction author Chris Kluwe also decided to get on the harass Elon train, tweeting several times as Musk in a series of bizarre tweets, including, “my wife left me.”
1970’s television actress Valerie Bertenelli also changed her name to Elon Musk for a few hours before switching it back to her own name. Bertenelli followed Griffin’s lead and posted the fake Musk’s support for numerous Democrat candidates ahead of the midterms.
After switching her name back, Bertenelli tweeted, “I think I made my point.” If her point was that she is an aging narcissist still yearning for attention, then yes, her point was made.
Meanwhile, Twitter as a platform appears to be able get along just fine without Griffin, Klein, or Kluwe, as Musk tweeted on Monday evening, “Twitter usage is at an all-time high lol.”
“I just hope the servers don’t melt!” Musk added.
In addition, technology website The Verge has reportedly gained access to internal information shared with Twitter’s sales team on Monday, which contained some more good news for the company. Far from a dramatic exodus of users from the platform with Musk taking over, the company reports that its “monetizable daily user (mDAU) growth” is up more than 20 percent since Musk’s takeover.
If that growth is true, it’s hard to see a mass exodus of advertisers from the platform, given the fact that they’ll be reaching more actual eyes on the platform as opposed to the high number of bots that Musk has claimed that the previous regime that ran the company had in place.
