How a 19-year-old trolled thousands of NFL fans before being suspended under Elon Musk
Elon Musk's rollout and subsequent retraction of Twitter Blue, which allowed accounts to access blue ticks if they paid a monthly fee of $7.99, was nothing short of disastrous from the start until see you today.
After the rollout, Musk and Twitter faced an influx of parody accounts and trolls impersonating high-profile individuals and organizations, and in some cases the accounts were so close it was impossible to tell if they were real, which left many users confused. This would have forced Twitter to suspend the option to subscribe on Friday.
One of the first parody accounts was @AdamSchefterN0T, an account run by an anonymous 18-year-old who posed as NFL analyst Adam Schefter (with a new blue check) and began cheating people. million people in a series of viral Tweets that landed him in hot water and with eventual suspension from Twitter.
Related: Musk Doubles Down on Account Bans Amid Checkmark Fiasco as Top Leaders Continue to Come Out in Mass
The account was extremely compelling, as it used the same avatar, display name, biography, and syntax in tweets as the real Adam Schefter account, except for one difference: the nickname @ was different.
@AdamSchefterN0T first made waves when he tweeted that NFL Oakland Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels had been fired, and on the face of it for those browsing their feed, the display name and the blue checkmark next to Schefter's name made it seem legit, fueling rumors and fire on the site.
Musk said earlier in his acquisition that parody accounts must disclose that they are parody accounts in their bios.
The 19-year-old behind the fake Schefter account, however, maintained that he was following Musk's original guidelines as he pinned a Tweet to the top of the profile reading "I'm not Adam Schefter, this is a parody account."
Other viral claims by the account included other NFL-related fake news that the Dallas Cowboys were signing Odell Beckham Jr. and that Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields was suspended for interests related to anti-Semitism.
"I think Musk's purchase of Twitter has allowed people to speak more outspokenly on the platform without fear of undoing," the account owner told Daily Dot . "My bio and pinned tweet make it clear not to take my tweet as fact, just clicking on my profile will let the user know this account is a parody."
The account likely prompted Musk to enforce the new policy that parody accounts must now also include "parody" in their name.
To integrate"To avoid confusing others about an account's affiliation, parodies, comments, and fan accounts should distinguish themselves in both their account name and bio," the statement read. "The account name must clearly indicate that the account is not affiliated with the subject described in the profile."
Musk has not publicly commented on the @AdamSchefterN0T profile directly.
Elon Musk's rollout and subsequent retraction of Twitter Blue, which allowed accounts to access blue ticks if they paid a monthly fee of $7.99, was nothing short of disastrous from the start until see you today.
After the rollout, Musk and Twitter faced an influx of parody accounts and trolls impersonating high-profile individuals and organizations, and in some cases the accounts were so close it was impossible to tell if they were real, which left many users confused. This would have forced Twitter to suspend the option to subscribe on Friday.
One of the first parody accounts was @AdamSchefterN0T, an account run by an anonymous 18-year-old who posed as NFL analyst Adam Schefter (with a new blue check) and began cheating people. million people in a series of viral Tweets that landed him in hot water and with eventual suspension from Twitter.
Related: Musk Doubles Down on Account Bans Amid Checkmark Fiasco as Top Leaders Continue to Come Out in Mass
The account was extremely compelling, as it used the same avatar, display name, biography, and syntax in tweets as the real Adam Schefter account, except for one difference: the nickname @ was different.
@AdamSchefterN0T first made waves when he tweeted that NFL Oakland Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels had been fired, and on the face of it for those browsing their feed, the display name and the blue checkmark next to Schefter's name made it seem legit, fueling rumors and fire on the site.
Musk said earlier in his acquisition that parody accounts must disclose that they are parody accounts in their bios.
The 19-year-old behind the fake Schefter account, however, maintained that he was following Musk's original guidelines as he pinned a Tweet to the top of the profile reading "I'm not Adam Schefter, this is a parody account."
Other viral claims by the account included other NFL-related fake news that the Dallas Cowboys were signing Odell Beckham Jr. and that Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields was suspended for interests related to anti-Semitism.
"I think Musk's purchase of Twitter has allowed people to speak more outspokenly on the platform without fear of undoing," the account owner told Daily Dot . "My bio and pinned tweet make it clear not to take my tweet as fact, just clicking on my profile will let the user know this account is a parody."
The account likely prompted Musk to enforce the new policy that parody accounts must now also include "parody" in their name.
To integrate"To avoid confusing others about an account's affiliation, parodies, comments, and fan accounts should distinguish themselves in both their account name and bio," the statement read. "The account name must clearly indicate that the account is not affiliated with the subject described in the profile."
Musk has not publicly commented on the @AdamSchefterN0T profile directly.
What's Your Reaction?
![Three of ID's top PR executives quit ad firm Powerhouse [EXCLUSIVE]](https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ID-PR-Logo.jpg?#){kind=logo}
