Over the weekend, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch joined Twitter and his wife, Wendi Deng-Murdoch, soon followed. Or did she?
Despite the fact that Twitter affixed the "Verified" tag to the account supposedly belonging to Mrs. Murdoch, it was actually a fake.
The person behind the Twitter account has not revealed his or her true identity, but admitted Tuesday morning that the account was indeed fake.
"Hello Twitter. As News International has finally come to their senses, it's time to confirm that yes, this is a fake account. I'm not Wendi," @Wendi_Murdoch tweeted.
The clever tweeter even pulled one over News International (News Corp's U.K. publishing division), which confirmed to many news outlets that the account belonged to Mrs. Murdoch. A News Corp. rep wouldn't comment on the matter beyond saying the account was a hoax.
The person also fooled Twitter, which has since pulled the verified designation from the @Wendi_Deng account.
"We can confirm that the @wendi_deng account was mistakenly verified for a short period of time and apologize for the confusion this has caused," Twitter posted on its communication feed.
The debacle brings into question Twitter's verification process. The person behind @Wendi_Deng said he/she was surprised the account was verified, as the tweeter was never contacted by Twitter or News International before it was granted the little blue check.
"And you have to wonder even more why Twitter verified this account for a full day. I never received any communication from them about this," @wendi_deng tweeted.
"It might be only a small matter, but you have to worry about the management of News International and Twitter if they can both readily confirm, for a while at least, that this was the account of a very noted personality," the account holder added.
Meanwhile, Rupert Murdoch's account (@rupertmurdoch) has amassed more than 90,000 followers since it launched on New Year's Eve. He did not address the controversy about his wife's alleged Twitter account, and @wendi_deng is not among the seven people he follows.