Get All Access for $5/mo

Twitter's $8 Verification: Fake Tweets Of LeBron James, George Bush and O.J. Simpson Cause Chaos Elon Musk's $8 charge has verified trolls to spread fake news like wildfire. They at first, took to the social media page to imprsonate the Los Angeles Lakers account and tweet about LeBron James requesting a trade.

By Kavya Pillai

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.

Photo by Ravi Sharma on Unsplash

Elon Musk's $8 charge has verified trolls to spread fake news like wildfire. They at first, took to the social media page to impersonate the Los Angeles Lakers account and tweet about LeBron James requesting a trade.

A user after paying for his Twitter Blue Subscription under the handle @kIngjamez tweeted "I am officially requesting a trade." Right after which another impersonator of Adam Schefter who is an ESPN insider shared that the Las Vegas Raiders, Josh McDaniels, the head coach, had been fired.

This was not all, soon after the accessibility of the blue tick was started, a user created an account as former US President George W. Bush with the bio "so what if I did 9/11" and mocked his role in the Iraq war with a crude joke tweeting "I miss killing Iraqis" along with a sad-faced emoticon. Followed by another impersonator of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair tweeting, "Same tbh." The accounts were taken down after 10 hours of being live.

Following this former football star O.J. Simpson was impersonated and a tweet concerning his infamous murder trial in 1994 read "I'm ngl I did that shit". This tweet gained major traction with over 55,000 likes. The impersonator used the handle 'ThaReal0J32' which at first glance does not look much different to the real handle which has a 'The' in place of a 'Tha' and the letter 'O' instead of the number '0'.

This mass impersonation and spread of false news are predictable as any troll with access to $8 would resume any verified identity with absolute ease. Musk's Twitter seems to have curbed the issue with the introduction of their latest tag of 'official' for famous personalities, media houses and companies. Although this is a warning for other users to be vigilant and double-check the account before re-tweeting.

Kavya Pillai

Former Correspondent

News and Trends

Recur Club Announces Credit Offerings for Startups Beyond Series A and SMEs

In FY 24–25, the platform also plans to deploy an additional INR 2000 crores through its Recur Swift program for startups.

News and Trends

East Ocyon Bio, Culture Circle, Power Gummies, and Navanc Raise Early-Stage Funding

The startups listed below have disclosed investment rounds.

News and Trends

Supply-Chain Financing Platform Mintifi Raises USD 180 Mn in Series E, Valuation Soars to USD 850 Mn

The raised funding will enable Mintifi to diversify its product offerings, such as dealer management systems, loans against property, and factoring services, powered by artificial intelligence.

News and Trends

Stride Ventures Launches Fourth Fund with USD 300 Mn Target Corpus

Industry leaders like BlueStone, Upstox, Moneyview, Ather, Pharmeasy, Infra.Market, and Ola Electric have benefited from Stride's support.

News and Trends

Australian Human Spaceflight Pioneer Expands Indo-Pacific Footprint with New Operations in India

With a focus on pioneering advanced human spaceflight services, the new India office will serve as a strategic hub to cater to the growing demand for innovative space tech solutions in the Indo-Pacific region and foster collaboration with Indian government agencies, research institutions, and private enterprises.

News and Trends

How Cactus Partners' Growth Playbook Drives Valuations and Success for its Portfolio

The modus operandi of Cactus is helping companies put the governance systems in place with required boards and committees, preferably at the series A stage or beyond.