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This week while scrolling on X , formerly Twitter , I find that I had reposted a series of TechCrunch articles . Except , wait , no , I had n’t .
But someone else using my name had . I clicked on the profile , and there was another Rebecca Bellan , using the same default and cope picture as my real profile : me onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2022 and side - eye Chloe , respectively . The bio read , “ @Techcrunch senior reporter | journalist , ” and it had the emplacement limit to NY , where I am currently based . The account was create in May 2024 .
Perhaps most surprising after realizing that someone — who ? A bot ? ! — had created an imitator account of me was the fact that they had ostensibly paid to do so , as evidenced by the little blue checkmark next to my name .
When X was still Twitter , the blue checkmark would let other users do it that a profile had been verified as a mortal of Federal Reserve note . But since Elon Musk ’s hostile coup d’etat , that checkmark now meansthat a user has paid at least $ 8 per month for a premium subscription that gets them access to longer posts , fewer ads , better algorithmic consideration and Grok . And whileX changed tack in Apriland gave the verification badge back to some user base on telephone number of follower , the risque checkmark could also mean someone is a buff of Musk . Do n’t believe me ? Just check all the zealous answer guys on any ofMusk ’s Post .
Anyway , I am neither a paid contributor nor a devotee .
I ’m also not the only one who was targeted with impersonation report . A handful of TechCrunch journalists have also been impersonate on the program . Some of the accounts , including my own fake one , have been suspended after being report to X. But this only distinguish us that X is actively mindful of this problem .
And the job is that imposture attacks like these are so much gentle to hold out because of the abasement of X ’s verification scheme , which in reality does n’t seem to require any identity element confirmation at all . deliver a give - to - play blue check system just beg defective actors and nation - states to abuse it .
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Really , X should have watch its lesson by now . When Musk initially rolled out what was then called Twitter Blue in November 2023 , the feature of speech was cursorily weaponize tohelp bad worker sham to be celebrities , bay window and government official . One account pose pharma fellowship Eli Lilly and posted a phoney announcement that insulin is now free . That tweet was viewed million of times before it was transfer , and the company ’s inventory took a hit as a result .
Another account pretended to be hoops mavin LeBron James and post that he was officially asking for a swop from the Lakers squad . Another posed as Connor McDavid and announced that the field hockey player ’s contract had been bought by the New York Islanders .
The accounts pretend to be TechCrunch journalists have been , so far , benignant . All they ’ve done is repost content that honestly any one of us might have reposted anyway . This suggests that , rather than particularly malicious actors , the accounts were likely make by bot .
We ’ve been coveringX ’s Verified user bot problemfor some metre . The irony is that Musk suggested that forcing drug user to devote for verification would actually weed out the bots on the platform , but clearly that ’s not the lawsuit .
For those who have been personate , you could report it to X , which will make you do a third - party verification that involve uploading pic of your government - issue ID and a selfie . I also asked atomic number 27 - workers , friends and followers to report the impersonation to X on my behalf , which may have expedited the process .
X did not answer to TechCrunch to provide gossip on how many of its user might actually be bot , why this trouble is still occurring , or what the program is doing to solve it .
