--- title: "It’s Still Easy to Impersonate a Senator on Twitter After Elon Musk Promised Verification Was Fixed" description: "Washington Post columnist Geoffrey Fowler was able to impersonate US senator Edward Markey with a verified Twitter account — and it's not the first time." date: "2023-01-05" modified: "2023-01-05" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/impersonate-senator-twitter-verification" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "the digest" - "twitter" --- # It’s Still Easy to Impersonate a Senator on Twitter After Elon Musk Promised Verification Was Fixed ![Washington Post columnist Geoffrey Fowler was able to impersonate US senator Edward Markey with a verified Twitter account — and it's not the first time.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* ## Faux Checks Twitter CEO Elon Musk [promised last month]() that the site's revamped $8/month verification system would no longer allow troublemakers to [impersonate ]()[famous people and companies](). Turns out he was [wrong yet again](). *The Washington Post* columnist Geoffrey Fowler was easily [able to impersonate]() US senator Edward Markey with a verified Twitter account with the username @SenatorEdMarkey — a stunt he [also pulled]() during the first disastrous launch of the feature. In other words, Twitter is doing very little to despite [Musk's promises]() of manually authenticating "all" blue checkmark accounts back in November. Needless to say, facilitating the impersonation of a politician could allow for the spread of misinformation and sow chaos online. "Under Musk’s leadership, Twitter users face a greater risk of seeing something fake and thinking it is real," Fowler argues in his column. ## Impersonal Touch Twitter has [clearly struggled]() to come up with an alternative to the platform's legacy verification system. Musk has attempted to roll out several iterations over the last two months, none of which seem quite watertight. This time around, all it took for Fowler was to create a new Twitter account on his iPhone and pay $7.99 for his blue checkmark using a credit card. He dodged the meek hurdles set up by Twitter — accounts need to be 90 days old and linked to a phone number — by renaming an old account. At no point was Fowler asked for a piece of identification, something that is commonplace for other online services, such as Facebook or Airbnb. In short, it's a troubling failure for a platform that was once seen as a place you can trust — at least to a degree — before Musk took over late last year. "It’s an absolute joke that Elon Musk, who prides himself on being a tech entrepreneur, can’t implement a functioning verification regime — except users aren’t laughing," the real Markey told Fowler. **READ MORE:** [Twitter said it fixed ‘verification.’ So I impersonated a senator (again).]() \[*The Washington Post*\] **More on Twitter:** *[Twitter Suspends Multiple Space Journalists for Posting Rockets]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()