Twitter accounts suspended after changing name to ‘Elon Musk’

Twitter users with verified accounts who changed their username to “Elon Musk” to mock the social network’s new owner have been suspended by the platform.

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Actress Kathy Griffin, who has over two million subscribers, is one of these internet users. She replaced her profile picture with a picture of a billionaire.

The Tesla boss, who has previously described himself as an “absolute defender of freedom of expression,” tweeted on Sunday, “Twitter accounts impersonating someone else without clearly stating it’s a parody will be permanently suspended.

YouTuber Ethan Klein’s h3h3Productions Twitter account was also banned despite being presented as a parody.

Elon Musk, who has been accused of being personally involved in the decisions to ban accounts targeting him, responded to Kathy Griffin’s tweet reporting the account suspension.

“She was actually suspended for pretending to be a comedian,” he joked. The comedian, whose account is still not reactivated, wanted to answer him through his late mother’s account: “I came back from the dead to tell Kathy to be released. »

Other users, including Star Wars actor Mark Hamill, joined the fray with the hashtag #FreeKathy.

One of Elon Musk’s first decisions after completing his $44 billion takeover of Twitter was to lay off half of his employees and announce that they now had to pay $8 a month to qualify for the certification, which was previously free.

Users whose authenticity has been verified previously verified by the platform are marked with a blue tick.