Twitter has today announced it is temporarily suspending display name changes on verified accounts, presumably to stop everyone impersonating Elon Musk.
The company rolled out its new Twitter Blue subscription today, which will let users pay $8 a month for a blue checkmark and other features. In a snippet of the new Help Center document Twitter states:
Please note, to minimize impersonation risks, display name changes will be temporarily restricted on Verified accounts. This will impact accounts Verified under the legacy program and Twitter’s new Twitter Blue subscription product.
While this will of course possibly prevent some impersonation, it does of course also mean that you can't change your name to Elon Musk and talk about how you like to eat poo for breakfast.
Elon is tired of your crap
It comes following a spate of high-profile instances of major verified accounts impersonating Elon Musk and then mocking the new Twitter CEO, likely in protest of the new verification measures.
Notably, Twitter banned comedian Kathy griffin for impersonating Musk and tweeting "After much spirited discussion with the females in my life. I’ve decided that voting blue for their choice is only right (They’re also sexy females, btw.) #VoteBlueToProtectWomen”
Sarah Silverman also tried the same stunt, and got her account locked for tweeting "I am a freedom of speech absolutist and I eat doody for breakfast every day."
Twitter is now clamping down on this, and says it will "temporarily" suspend display name changes on verified accounts for both legacy and new Twitter Blue subscribers. If you already have a blue check, Twitter has confirmed you'll get to keep it for now.
The new Twitter Blue subscription is only available on iOS in a few select countries including the US, UK, Canada, and New Zealand, as well as Australia. That means you need an iPhone to get verified, as its not available on the web or Android.
