USA Today via Reuters
Nov 9, 2022; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (6) shoots against the Los Angeles Clippers during the first half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
USA Today via Reuters
Nov 9, 2022; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (6) shoots against the Los Angeles Clippers during the first half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
The last week of October changed Twitter forever. Under the realm of billionaire Elon Musk, the new owner of the popular social media shifted from its old phase. To rake in more profits, Musk decided to charge $8 to obtain a verification badge. What was once only reserved for official accounts and popular people, has only created chaos for everyone. Including Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James.
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An account named @klngjamez impersonated the NBA champion. Due to the blue tick, misinformation spread like wildfire. The pseudo-LeBron shared that he wanted a trade back to Cleveland. This duped many people.
In the tweet, he stated that he was “officially requesting a trade”. He thanked the Lakers for the support and hoped for a better future. The blue tick seemed to throw a lot of people off.
The real and genuine LeBron James has of course done no such thing. In fact, his last tweet is for a video game ad.
A verified fake LeBron James tweet — which claimed the Lakers star was requesting a trade — made rounds on Twitter shortly after Elon Musk rolled out paid blue checks. https://t.co/AJQr8dWSAF
— TMZ (@TMZ) November 9, 2022
The new subscription policy has created mayhem elsewhere. A fake account of Adam Schefter reported that Las Vegas Raiders’ head coach Josh McDaniels had been fired.
Not just LeBron James, even the new Twitter CEO has his own impersonators
Elon Musk himself was annoyed at the several fake accounts to his name. Many trolls used his picture and bought the blue tick, and was posting in his guise. Even celebrities like Sarah Silverman and Kathy Griffin’s accounts have been suspended. Musk tweeted that Twitter accounts that engage in “impersonation” without explicitly saying “parody” will be in trouble.
Earlier, the blue tick not only indicated an influential person. It also lets people know that the account was authentic. That will seemingly no longer be the case anymore.
The Wire reported that the new changes were “fundamentally flawed”. They claimed that it could cause more damage. According to them, payment verification does not guarantee authenticity. It would be hard to detect bots too. Legitimacy cannot be bought at $8, claimed the media house.
I dont know Elon Musk and, tbh, I could care less who owns twitter. But I will say that if this is true, I hope he and his people take this very seriously because this is scary AF. So many damn unfit people saying hate speech is free speech. https://t.co/Sy0jvXIBnC
— LeBron James (@KingJames) October 29, 2022
The NBA legend had previously locked horns with the billionaire, a day before they rolled out the changes. James wrote that he hoped that Musk and his people understood the responsibility.
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“So many damn unfit people saying hate speech is free speech,” LeBron tweeted.
Will the new paid blue ticks bring in more chaos? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Written by
Edited by
Veer Badani