【Text/Observer Network Zhou Yibo】
Recently, Twitter's new boss Elon Musk insisted on implementing the "blue V certification" payment system despite the opposition of all parties. However, as the outside world is worried, fake accounts that use the mechanism to "verify their true identity" are emerging one after another, and false information continues to circulate.
According to the Toronto Star, on the afternoon of November 10, local time, a Twitter account impersonating the American pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly (Eli Lilly) and obtaining "Blue V certification" posted that the company will provide insulin to the outside world for free in the future. Although the news has been clarified by Lilly's official account, the company's share price fell 4.37% on the 11th, and its market value lost more than $15 billion.
On the afternoon of November 11, Twitter's "Blue V Authentication" payment system has been suspended, less than 48 hours after the official launch of the function. An editor of a US news website revealed that internal Twitter documents show that the move is to "help solve the problem of phishing accounts."
Even though the fake account caused chaos on the platform, Musk still excitedly announced on the same day: the use of Twitter continued to rise, and the number of active users on the day had reached a record high.
On November 9, at Musk's insistence, Twitter officially launched the "Blue V Authentication" paid system function on Apple's iOS platform version APP in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, the specific content is: as long as users subscribe to the "Twitter Blue" service at $7.99 / month, they can display a "Blue V Authentication" logo next to the account name.
At the same time, users who have obtained the "Blue V Certification" before the function is launched also need to pay the subscription fee within a certain period of time, otherwise they will lose the certification mark.
Previously, Twitter had about 423,000 verified accounts, including government agencies and politicians, journalists and news outlets, activists, businesses and brands in many parts of the world. Twitter Blue is an optional service launched by the platform in June last year to provide users with additional advanced features and personalized experiences.
In the impression of Twitter users, "blue V authentication" indicates that Twitter has verified that the identity information of the account is real, that is, a clear sign to identify "real accounts" and "fake accounts". Therefore, Musk envisioned the model of "giving money and getting blue V", which gave many counterfeit accounts "opportunity".
On the 9th, a man named "George J. The Twitter account of W. Bush (former US President George W. Bush) posted "I miss the time of slaughtering Iraqis", which directly startled many netizens - because the account was "Blue V certified".
Subsequently, the account indirectly admitted that it was spoofing, "You all missed the point of $8 (buying Blue V certification), which is just a small price to pay for bringing this app down completely", "If I were not the greatest American president you know, I would say so".
On the 10th, a Twitter account that obtained the "Blue V Certification" claimed to be a well-known brand "Jinjida" in the United States, which specializes in bananas and other agricultural products, and posted that "we have just overthrown the Brazilian government."
Hours later, another account claiming to be "Kim Jeddah" posted under the "Blue V Authentication" that "I apologize to those who received misleading information about fake 'Kim Jeddah' accounts." We have not overthrown a single government since 1954. ”
It is worth noting that the nickname of these two accounts is "Chiquita", and in the case of the same "Blue V authentication", the former account name is "@ChiquitaBrands", and the latter is "@Chiquita", so that netizens have to sigh that "authenticity is difficult to distinguish".
Also on this day, some netizens were surprised to find that a "Blue V Certification" account that seemed to be the American pharmaceutical giant "Eli Lilly" solemnly announced: Our insulin products are now free!
According to public information, at present, the global insulin market is dominated by three pharmaceutical giants: Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sino. These three companies not only occupy the entire U.S. market, but also capture 90% of the global market share.
Among them, Eli Lilly was the first company to produce insulin on a large scale. In 2022, the company will cost $82.41 per bottle of Lispro insulin injection and $159.12 in a box of 5 sticks.
Therefore, the information announced by the account calling itself "Lilly & Company" (@EliLillyandCo) is shocking. It was not until the 11th that the "Blue V Authentication" of the account was canceled, and the tweet was also set to private.
Although Lilly's official Twitter account (@LillyPad) clarified within hours of the aforementioned account tweet, the company's share price fluctuated dramatically as a result.
According to the Toronto Star, Lilly's share price fell 4.37% on the 11th to $352.30, evaporating more than $15 billion in market value.
Fake accounts are constantly emerging, and false information is circulating, which can damage the reputation of public figures and evaporate the market value of enterprises at worst. In fact, these chaos were predicted by many people long before the "Blue V Certification" payment system was launched.
According to the New York Times, Musk originally hoped to launch this feature in the first week of November, so he did not hesitate to let employees work overtime in the "997" model.
However, many Twitter users are concerned that the "pay for 'blue V certification'" policy will cause confusion in the 2022 US midterm elections on November 8, because users can easily use the certification to impersonate the president of the United States, lawmakers from both parties and the news media, and post false information about the voting results.
In order to expose the risks of this function, some users simply "practiced" and directly impersonated Musk himself.
For example, American comedian Sarah Silverman began her spoof operation by copying Musk's profile picture, cover image, and name with her verified account.
On November 6, netizens saw a Twitter account with the name "Elon Musk" and "Blue V Authentication" post the following sentence: I am an absolutist of free speech, and I eat doody for breakfast every day.
The account followed with multiple tweets calling for people to support the Democratic Party in the midterm elections.
On November 6, Musk tweeted that "in the future, any fake Twitter account that is not clearly marked as 'spoof' will be permanently banned."
"Previously, we would have warned before we banned accounts, but now that we are doing extensive verification work, there will be no warnings [in the future]." Musk wrote, "This will also be clearly marked as a condition for registering 'Twitter Blue.'" ”
At the same time, Musk also stressed that "any name change behavior will cause the 'Blue V Certification' to temporarily disappear." ”
The next day, Silverman's account was flagged as a "temporary restriction" by Twitter and the account nickname was changed back.
The Toronto Star reported that on the afternoon of November 11, Twitter's "blue V authentication" payment system has been suspended, less than 48 hours after the function was officially launched.
Zoe Schiffer, news editor at the U.S. news site Platformer, revealed that internal Twitter documents show the move was to "help solve the problem of phishing accounts."
Schiffer said that Twitter issued an announcement on the internal channel of the office communication system, saying, "We completed an update tonight (11th): hide the entrance link of the 'Twitter Blue' service and only add the 'official' label to advertiser accounts." ”
After searching, the major corporate brand accounts on Twitter currently have a logo called "official", but other "blue V certification" remains unchanged.
On the 11th, Musk sent a number of tweets to express his excitement: Twitter is on fire!
"Twitter usage continues to rise, and one thing is certain: it's not boring!" Musk wrote, "The number of active users (Twitter) is at an all-time high today. ”
This article is an exclusive contribution of Observer.com and may not be reprinted without authorization.