Twitter battles fake verified accounts hours after new Blue subscription release – Times of India

The new Twitter Blue subscription is now live and just hours after rolling out service, the platform has seen a huge rise of fake accounts getting blue check marks. People have started impersonating noted personalities and it appears Twitter has started taking action against such accounts.
Various Twitter users posted screenshots of various handles that impersonate celebrities and people of power masquerading with a blue checkmark on the social media platform. The fake verified accounts have the display image of the person he/she is impersonating and have a blue tick which, on first look, looks like a legitimate account of the impersonated person.
For example, people have posed as Nintendo of America, software company Valve, former US Presidents Donald Trump and George W Bush as well as former Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair with handle @MPTonyBlair and more.

In fact, a Twitter user has claimed that it took him “less than 25 minutes to set up a fake anonymous Apple ID using a VPN and disposable email, attach a masked debit card to it (with the address being Twitter’s HQ), and get a verified account for a prominent figure.”
Some of these accounts, such as the impersonating profile of George W Bush (@georgewbushs) have been suspended. Meanwhile, Tony Blair with handle @MPTonyBlair is still active due to its description that reads “UK Parody Minister.”
This is in line with Musk’s original plan of suspending impersonating accounts and leaving out those who clearly mention that it is a parody account of some celebrity or someone of public interest.
Loopholes in the new Blue verification system
With getting a blue checkmark is a lot easier now, the process of “finding and suspending any verified bots/trolls/spam” seems to become a lot harder for Twitter. What happens when a politician, who is not on Twitter, suddenly gets an account with a blue check mark? How can other users tell whether the handle is the real account of that politician?

Under the new rules, if a politician wants to join Twitter and get a blue check mark, he will have to pay $7.99 as the company has already announced it is not taking any applications for verification as per the old regulations.
The impersonations of high-profile accounts are more likely to be suspended, however, impersonating a minor online celebrity may pose a greater challenge. Along with weeding out fake accounts, it is possible that a real account gets suspended.