Senator Ed Markey slams Elon Musk over Twitter verification system, warns of congress...

[midian182]

What just happened? Elon Musk has his hands full right now with the massive upheaval at Twitter, not to mention his duties at SpaceX, Tesla, and other ventures. But it appears the world's richest man always has time to get involved in an online spat. This time, it's with Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, who has told Musk to fix his companies or "congress will."

It shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that the incident revolves around Musk's controversial revamp of Twitter's verification system, which is now part of the $8 per month Twitter Blue service—subscribers automatically receive a blue checkmark.

To highlight the problems with Musk's verification system, a Washington Post reporter set up a fake account named @realEdMarkey pretending to be the senator. Not only was the imitation verified, but the account also showed a pop-up stating that it received verification because the holder is a "notable person in government." And this was despite Markey having two accounts, both showing existing checkmarks.

The report prompted Markey to send a letter to Musk requesting a detailed explanation of the new verification system and how it differs from the free version that preceded it.

Musk, who once called a cave diver involved in the rescue of a soccer team in Thailand a "pedo guy," was his usual diplomatic self in his reply to Markey; he claimed the senator's real account sounds like a parody. Musk followed up by asking why Markey's profile picture showed him wearing a mask.

And why does your pp have a mask!?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 13, 2022

Markey didn't take the responses with good humor. "One of your companies is under an FTC consent decree. Auto safety watchdog NHTSA is investigating another for killing people. And you're spending your time picking fights online. Fix your companies. Or Congress will," he wrote.

One of your companies is under an FTC consent decree. Auto safety watchdog NHTSA is investigating another for killing people. And you're spending your time picking fights online. Fix your companies. Or Congress will. https://t.co/lE178gPRoM

— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) November 13, 2022

It took just two days after launch for Twitter to suspend paid-account verification, a response to the hundreds of users impersonating public entities; one person pretending to be Eli Lilly crashed the pharmaceutical company's stock price after they tweeted it would no longer charge for insulin. Musk said anyone impersonating a public figure would be permanently banned from Twitter.

This isn't the first time that Musk and Markey have butted heads. The latter, along with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, asked the Federal Trade Commission in August 2021 to investigate how Tesla advertised its driver-assistance technologies. With Joe Biden already considering looking at Musk's business dealings, the billionaire could soon be facing even more problems from the government.

Masthead: Victoria Pickering

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/96642-senator-ed-markey-slams-elon-musk-over-twitter.html

 

[Neatfeatguy]

How about the government just Fs off and they try to successfully fix their own F ups?

With how they can't even handle their own issues, let alone the country's issues, how the hel| do they think they could be of any use here trying to force their crap on Twitter/Musk?

Just do what I do when it comes to the social media - don't use it. If you don't like it, don't pay for it.

 

[Uncle Al]

Interesting to see how Congress can fix a "private" company without upsetting a lot of other companies .....

 

[Theinsanegamer]

"It's a private company sweaty, they can do what they want"

 

[NicktheWVAHick]

"It's a private company sweaty, they can do what they want"

Exactly. This was the argument when Facecrap, Yahoo and so many other “private” companies decided to censor opposing political viewpoints during the 2020 election. Doesn’t feel so good now that you’re on the receiving end, does it?

 

[yRaz]

Because government is so great at fixing things

 

[MyIOnU]

"It's a private company sweaty, they can do what they want"

Yep, It's only ok if the private company is working with the Democrats.

 

[RudyBob]

And it is obvious to me that Techspot does not like Musk. We live in a police state

 

[fps4ever]

Hypocrisy at its finest. Our current .gov is one big steaming crap fest.

 

[Bl00dyMinded]

So congress wants to fix Twitter but yet they can't fix our country or make policies and laws that will. Interesting.

 

[gamerk2]

"It's a private company sweaty, they can do what they want"

No, they can do what they want within the confines of existing law.

It's also worth noting that Musk himself banned several accounts that were (according to him) impersonating him, so it would be justified of Congress to at least get an official reply when accounts that are potentially impersonating a sitting Senator (something I note is illegal under US law) are not.

Basically: under Twitters new guidelines, what is considered "parody" (protected) and what is considered impersonation (not protected). Congress is within it's rights to get an official answer to that question, and if they are not satisfied with the answer they are free to pass a law that applies to *all* companies to address it, so long as it does not run afoul of the 1st Amendment.

This also again highlights why paying for the checkmark is an *****ic idea, as it defeats the entire purpose of verification.

 

[bviktor]

How about the government just Fs off and they try to successfully fix their own F ups?

With how they can't even handle their own issues, let alone the country's issues, how the hel| do they think they could be of any use here trying to force their crap on Twitter/Musk?

Just do what I do when it comes to the social media - don't use it. If you don't like it, don't pay for it.

That's not how it works since you can't ban these platforms for other people, who will happily consume all that precious misinformation.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Richest man in the world acts like a child.
If that's not a role model I don't know what is.

 

[OortCloud]

Elon Musk again! The guy started to believe his own press about 5 years ago and has now completely lost the plot. Bringing sinks into companies, awful comments, flamethrowers the list goes on and on. He has gone from entrepreneur to self-promoting internet bellend in record speed.

 

[p51d007]

The most frightening thing.... "I'm from the government, and I'm here to HELP you"

 

[yRaz]

No, they can do what they want within the confines of existing law.

It's also worth noting that Musk himself banned several accounts that were (according to him) impersonating him, so it would be justified of Congress to at least get an official reply when accounts that are potentially impersonating a sitting Senator (something I note is illegal under US law) are not.

Basically: under Twitters new guidelines, what is considered "parody" (protected) and what is considered impersonation (not protected). Congress is within it's rights to get an official answer to that question, and if they are not satisfied with the answer they are free to pass a law that applies to *all* companies to address it, so long as it does not run afoul of the 1st Amendment.

This also again highlights why paying for the checkmark is an *****ic idea, as it defeats the entire purpose of verification.

It's been literally a week, there is lots of coding and crap that goes into this. They basically "unlocked" everything, see where it broke and are trying to fix it.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

It's also worth noting that Musk himself banned several accounts that were (according to him) impersonating him, so it would be justified of Congress to at least get an official reply when accounts that are potentially impersonating a sitting Senator (something I note is illegal under US law) are not.

But they were banned too: https://twitter.com/realedmarkey

 

[emmzo]

He will soon learn you don't fxck with the government! Whoa, is this China? People always go to extremes. Actually, he could lobby some millions and all the problems will be going away. Wait, he already does? Then this is just a playful spat.

 

[wiyosaya]

I've said it before, and I will say it again - Verified by Twitter

 

[wiyosaya]

It's been literally a week, there is lots of coding and crap that goes into this. They basically "unlocked" everything, see where it broke and are trying to fix it.

I have a feeling its going to take a lot longer than a week.

 

[axiomatic13]

Twitter's going to die. Musk has achieved his Peter Principle position at SpaceX. He can go no further. He doesn't have the chops.

 

[Superconductor]

LMAO

 

[Theinsanegamer]

No, they can do what they want within the confines of existing law.

It's also worth noting that Musk himself banned several accounts that were (according to him) impersonating him, so it would be justified of Congress to at least get an official reply when accounts that are potentially impersonating a sitting Senator (something I note is illegal under US law) are not.

Basically: under Twitters new guidelines, what is considered "parody" (protected) and what is considered impersonation (not protected). Congress is within it's rights to get an official answer to that question, and if they are not satisfied with the answer they are free to pass a law that applies to *all* companies to address it, so long as it does not run afoul of the 1st Amendment.

This also again highlights why paying for the checkmark is an *****ic idea, as it defeats the entire purpose of verification.

Funny, banning parody accounts was no issue when the old owners were in charge. They only pursued it once it started hitting more then just "aceptable targets". Really makes you think.....

 

[RudyBob]

Richest man in the world acts like a child.
If that's not a role model I don't know what is.

You need a role model? You think everyone should be a role model? You decide who should be a role model? Investigate yourself

 

[captaincranky]

Basically: under Twitters new guidelines, what is considered "parody" (protected) and what is considered impersonation (not protected). Congress is within it's rights to get an official answer to that question, and if they are not satisfied with the answer they are free to pass a law that applies to *all* companies to address it, so long as it does not run afoul of the 1st Amendment.

I've seen the master, (of musical) parody interviewed, "Weird Al" Yankovich. Yes, parody is legal, and impersonation is not. (I would think that falls into the category of "identity theft".

While Mr. Yankovich has hammered numerous artist's hits, he stated that he always asks first, and it the answer is no, he leaves it alone.