A fake Twitter account created under NBA star LeBron James’ name fooled thousands of people into believing that James was making demands to be traded back to Cleveland, and it’s all because of Elon Musk’s new $8 blue check policy.
Twitter has not introduced any authentication for that $8 blue check. So all Twitter users have to do is pony up the eight bucks, and, whammo, you’re “verified.”
But that leads to an obvious problem. What if someone buys a “verified” checkmark, but they aren’t really the person they say they are? That is just what happened on Wednesday when a “verified” LeBron James account posted the trade demand, according to TMZ.
The faker’s tweet was posted on Wednesday. Then his account was promptly suspended. But it caused a lot of consternation before that.
The tweet read, “I am officially requesting a trade. Thank you #LakersNation for all the support through the years. Onto bigger and better things!”
Needless to say, the tweet is fake. LeBron James made no such request to be traded.
Hot on the tail of that post, the ban hammer fell:
Musk claimed that the purpose of the $8 fee was for the company to make up for some lost revenue, but without verification or vetting, it is a policy ripe for abuse.
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