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Elon Musk’s X has introduced stricter regulations on parody accounts, after years of promising to crack down on the issue.
Starting April 10, parody accounts will need to "avoid" identical avatars to the entities they depict, as well as ensure they have “compliant keywords" in their account name, for example, Parody, Commentary, or Fan. In an official statement, X said the changes are “designed to help users better understand the unaffiliated nature” of parody accounts and “reduce the risk of confusion or impersonation.”
Parody accounts on X have caused plenty of issues after Elon Musk removed legacy blue checkmarks, and allowed people to buy them for as little as $8 a month. In 2022, an account impersonating pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co. tweeted: "Insulin is free now."
The account used a purchased "blue check," which implied it was authentic. The pharma firm's stock tumbled in the wake of the tweet, forcing the company to post an official statement addressing the viral tweet. It also, unsurprisingly, cut back its ad spending on X.
The news comes after X rolled out a "parody account" label in January, which is applied to both posts and accounts on X.
X's moderation of parody accounts, and how the rules are applied, has been a controversial topic since the Musk takeover.
In 2022, comedians Sarah Silverman and Kathy Griffin were banned for changing their verified Twitter profiles to match Elon Musk’s profile picture and posting: “I am a freedom of speech absolutist and I eat doody for breakfast every day.”
Some of X's rivals, such as open-source alternative Bluesky, have also taken steps to limit the potential harm caused by parody accounts, rolling out labels ahead in November 2024.
X encourages users who believe that an account is impersonating someone or misleading users to report it in-app or via the Help Center.