Elon Musk said Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) will ban accounts that impersonate others, with comedians Kathy Griffin and Sarah Silverman the first victims.
Twitter’s new owner fired the warning after some celebrities changed their display names to ‘Elon Musk’.
1) 9 days ago, 2) yesterday 3) today. We have fun pic.twitter.com/eTKAp8PBuK
— Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) November 7, 2022
The move was in reaction to the Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) chief executive saying verified accounts will be offered to all users for US$8 a month.
Musk, who completed his US$44bn takeover last month, said there will be no warnings as well as no exceptions while Twitter rolls out its verification protocol.
Banned accounts will not return until the social media platform has a “clear process for doing so”, which Musk said could take a few more weeks.
That includes arguably the most famous of banned accounts, former US President Donald Trump.
Musk and Twitter faced a backlash after mass sackings following his takeover, with former staff in the US taking legal action after they claimed they were not given enough notice.