Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Sen. Ed Markey wrote to Elon Musk saying someone impersonated his Twitter with a verified blue check. Musk responded, suggesting his 'real account sounds like a parody.'

Sen. Ed Markey wrote to Elon Musk saying someone impersonated his Twitter with a verified blue check. Musk responded, suggesting his 'real account sounds like a parody.'

"Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody?" Musk tweeted when asked by the senator how Twitter will prevent impersonations.

Sen. Ed Markey penned a letter to Elon Musk after someone impersonated his Twitter account with a blue checkmark. Musk responded on Twitter by saying the senator's real account "sounds like a parody."

In a letter addressed to Musk and shared on Twitter, Markey said a Washington Post reporter "easily created a fake Twitter account in my name, and by paying $8.00 was also able to obtain Twitter's blue checkmark, signifying that Twitter had 'verified' the account was indeed that of a sitting U.S. senator."

"It was not," Markey's letter to Musk continued. "Apparently, due to Twitter's lax verification practices and apparent need for cash, anyone could pay $8.00 and impersonate someone on your platform."

The Washington Post reported on Friday that the outlet was verified "in minutes" while experimenting with the verification system and creating "imposter accounts" for Markey and a comedian. Both fake accounts were quickly verified, which the Post said makes the blue check "mostly worthless."

Following the experiment, Markey said that Twitter "must explain how this happened and how to prevent it from happening again."

"Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody?" Musk said on Twitter in a reply to Markey's tweet. He also asked why Markey is wearing a mask in his profile picture.


Markey fired off another tweet in response to Musk, calling out the billionaire's companies under various investigations.

"One of your companies is under an FTC consent decree. Auto safety watchdog NHTSA is investigating another for killing people. And you're spending your time picking fights online," Markey tweeted. "Fix your companies. Or Congress will."

The Federal Trade Commission said on Friday that it is "tracking recent developments at Twitter with deep concern." Meanwhile, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has spent months investigating Tesla's autopilot feature, assessing data from 830,000 Tesla cars and almost 200 new cases of collisions while the autopilot feature was activated.

Musk said last week that he wants Twitter to be the "most accurate source of information," though many of his tweets in the last few weeks contradict him. He tweeted a link to a news site spreading unfounded (and homophobic) claims about the assault on Paul Pelosi, which left the House Speaker's husband hospitalized. He also tweeted that Twitter was the biggest driver of "clicks" on the internet, after which he was quickly fact-checked for being "100% wrong."

Musk's tweets have put him in hot water with advertisers, several of whom have suspended ads on the site. Since he completed his takeover of Twitter last month, he has laid off several top executives and a large chunk of the company's staff, including public policy staff who verify politician accounts.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Syria Holds First Elections Since Fall of Assad
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Trump Backs Putin’s Land-for-Peace Proposal Amid Kyiv’s Rejection
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
United States Sells Luxury Yacht Amadea, Valued at Approximately $325 Million, in First Sale of a Seized Russian Yacht Since the Invasion of Ukraine
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
×