“This Ain’t Me”: Dale Earnhardt Jr Reveals Why He Took a Left Turn Following Elon Musk’s Controversial Decision

Earlier this week, there was a massive social media overhaul on Twitter. As it turned out, millions of Twitter users with the blue verified badges lost those badges, as users will now be required to pay for the verification badge. Among the affected were Dale Earnhardt Jr and several others from the NASCAR community. In a recent episode of The Dale Jr. Download podcast, he and co-host Mike Davis spoke about the issue.

Explaining to Mike Davis why he had purchased the certification badge, Dale Jr said, “I don’t want people to get scammed. I’m afraid of impersonators. I’ve been relatively fortunate for the most part across all social media platforms, not to have had a massive issue. But it’s created some problems for someone else, right?

“But I’ve heard stories, and we’ve seen time and time again, [happen] to other people that I follow them on the timeline. They’ll be like, ‘Hey, this ain’t me!’ ‘They’re asking for money, don’t do it!’ ‘This is not me.’ They’ll post and people will screenshot the account that’s impersonating them and put it out there, saying, ‘Don’t do this!'”

What did Dale Earnhardt Jr and Mike Davis say about the situation?

Davis revealed that he had actually faced this kind of scenario before. So he believes that it is important to pay for the verification. This is because the badge comes with a few extra features and utilities. Dale Jr even admitted that he was fairly amused at the number of people who announced the loss of their badges. Especially if they were not too torn up about losing such a status on social media.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr had a valid point when he spoke of the possibility of impersonators. After all, just about anybody could log on to Twitter and set up an account called Dale Earnhardt Jr. Nobody would be any wiser, and it would encourage people to dupe others online, especially since no one would be sure if they are interacting with the real person or an impostor.

Some people have already tried to take advantage of the absence of the badges

It didn’t take long for people to begin spreading fake news, thus justifying Dale Jr’s fears. NASCAR journalists Jeff Gluck and Bob Pockrass managed to highlight a few instances of fake news. Gluck called out one account that was impersonating Joe Gibbs Racing. This account tried to trick fans into thinking that Denny Hamlin was not going to return to JGR in 2024.

Meanwhile, Pockrass called out another account, though this one was a bit smarter. This account actually paid for a blue verified badge and attempted to pass off a story of Rick Hendrick banning non-NASCAR activities. Fortunately, Pockrass was vigilant and called out the account for the fake news. All this just goes to prove Earnhardt Jr’s fears about impersonators potentially scamming people.

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