Markey, Musk tussle over Twitter verification rules

Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter hasn't exactly had a soft landing. After months of negotiations, two lawsuits and plenty of trolling, the deal was finally secured on Oct. 27.

The dramatics didn't stop there — Musk immediately ousted the company's top executives, laid off large parts of the staff and announced changes to the social media network's verification system. The latter changes have prompted questions for many users of the platform and are now drawing widespread criticism from watchdogs and lawmakers, including Sen. Ed Markey, of Massachusetts.

The blue check marks on certain accounts had, until Musk's announcement, indicated that the account was in fact the person or institution it claimed to be. Saying he wanted "power for the people," Musk announced on Nov. 1 that the blue check mark, previously free, would be available for anyone who wanted to pay $8 a month for it.

The new check mark system would also allow users who paid for it to get priority in replies, mentions and search, the ability to post longer video and audio and to see half as many ads as unpaid users, said Musk. It's not clear if anyone who currently has a blue check mark without paying will retain it.

To test the new blue check mark system, a Washington Post reporter, with permission, made a fake account for Sen. Markey and paid for the blue check mark. "In a few minutes, I got a blue check mark on an impersonation of the lawmaker, who has for years scrutinized tech giants in the Senate," wrote Geoffrey A. Fowler.

In response, on Friday, Markey called for a response from Musk, on Twitter and in an open letter, saying "Twitter must explain how this happened and how to prevent it from happening again." Markey, who serves on a subcommittee for communication, media and broadband, has been a longtime advocate for consumer protection and privacy online, especially pertaining to children.

On Sunday, Musk responded, with his characteristic bluntness.

Markey didn't hesitate to fire back.

As of press time, Musk hadn't responded to Markey's tweet.

Ever since Musk announced the new blue check mark system, Twitter users have pushed the idea to the limit. Fake accounts with blue checkmarks popped up almost immediately, including Musk impersonators. Comedian Kathy Griffin and actor Valerie Bertinelli both changed their profile pictures and screen names to "Elon Musk"; the former had her account suspended.

A few days later,  Musk said any parody accounts had to make it clear they weren't authentic.

Initially, Twitter had announced the new checkmark system would launch on Monday, Nov. 7, but rolled it back to Wednesday after many criticized the decision to launch the day before the U.S. midterm elections.

Things became even more complicated on Thursday when a fake account, with the paid-for blue check mark, purporting to be pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly said, "We are excited to announce insulin is free now." This "sparked a panic" inside the real Eli Lilly, reported The Washington Post, and the company said they were stopping all their Twitter ad campaigns.

On Thursday night, Twitter suspended the new check mark system, to "help address impersonation issues."

"Quite the day!" Musk tweeted on Friday.