Trump-hating actress Kathy Griffin was permanently banned from Twitter on Sunday after she attempted to impersonate Elon Musk without making it clear that her account was a satire account, using her blue check to make it appear that she actually was Elon.
She f'd around and found out. pic.twitter.com/SWacgH1lpL
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) November 7, 2022
Griffin’s account had been temporarily suspended after she changed her profile picture to one of Elon and changed her name to “Elon Musk,” though her @ remained @kathygriffin. She then started tweeting with that new account name, attempting to make Elon look bad, at which point her account was temporarily suspended. Later, Twitter decided that she should be permanently suspended for the offense as a warning to others who might try impersonating public figures.
Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, commented on that decision in a Twitter thread on the subject of impersonation and verification, noting how important preventing impersonation will be now that Twitter verification will be available to anyone with $8, saying:
“Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying ‘parody’ will be permanently suspended. Previously, we issued a warning before suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning.”
Continuing, Musk added that that policy change would be applied to verified accounts (accounts with the blue check) and that other changes will be made to help Twitter “become by far the most accurate source of information,” which he said is Twitter’s new mission. In his words:
“This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue. Any name change at all will cause temporary loss of verified checkmark.”
“Twitter needs to become by far the most accurate source of information about the world. That’s our mission.”
Musk also added that he remains committed to free speech despite this policy change, saying:
“My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk.”
In addition to Elon’s thoughts on the subject, Twitter’s rules already provide that what Griffin attempted to do was against the rules. The company’s “Misleading and deceptive identities policy” provides that:
You may not impersonate individuals, groups, or organizations to mislead, confuse, or deceive others, nor use a fake identity in a manner that disrupts the experience of others on Twitter.
We want Twitter to be a place where people can find authentic voices. That means one should be able to trust that the person or organization featured in an account’s profile genuinely represents the account owner. While you are not required to display your real name or image on your profile, your account should not engage in impersonation or pose as someone who doesn’t exist in order to deceive others. Accounts that use deceptive identities can create confusion, as well as undermine the integrity of conversations on Twitter. For this reason, you may not misappropriate the identity of another person, group, or organization, or create a fake identity for deceptive purposes.
So now Griffin has finally gotten her comeupance after that sickening photo of her holding Trump’s head. It took long enough.
