The Golden Globe winner, actor Valerie Bertinelli changed her name on Twitter to 'Elon Musk' in a protest against his new subscription-based verification on the microblogging platform. The actor slammed the Tesla CEO to prove that the verification system is flawed.
In a tweet, Ms Bertinell wrote, "The blue checkmark simply meant your identity was verified. Scammers would have a harder time impersonating you. That no longer applies. Good luck out there!" A follower asked how it no longer applies, so responded, "You can buy a blue check mark for $7.99 a month without verifying who you are."
In protest of the $8 pay-for-a-blue-check plan, the actor retweeted support for Democratic candidates ahead of midterm elections all at the expense of Elon Musk.
As Elon Musk, she used hashtags including #VoteBlueToProtectYourRights and several tweets from gubernatorial candidates.
Well, she managed to trick many social media users. Several users pointed out that the tweets on their feeds appeared as if Musk had posted them.
She then ended her tweeting spree by writing. "Okey-dokey I've had my fun and I think I made my point."
Not just Valerie Bertinelli, comedian Sarah Silverman also changed her name. In her tweet, Ms Silverman wrote, "I am a freedom of speech absolutist and I eat doody for breakfast every day."
On Sunday, Musk said users engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying it as a "parody" account will be permanently suspended without a warning.
In a separate tweet, Elon Musk said Twitter previously issued a warning before the suspension, but as Twitter is rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning as well as "no exceptions."
"This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue," Elon Musk said, adding any name change at all will cause a temporary loss of the verified checkmark.
