Should we be happy at the incredible trolling of Elon Musk, or worried that he’s going to completely destroy Twitter?
Let’s go ahead and rock with the former since the social media outlet is already in a state of shit.
Elon Musk is definitely one of those people where you have to take the bad with the good. For example, the most recent case: Elon admitted that revenue for Twitter has dropped like a bitch since he’s taken over, but he’s also put us in a situation where we all can get one of those fancy blue checks — for a small fee of $8/per month, of course — and it’s managing to piss off all of the right people.
And then you have the recent situation with LeBron James.
One Twitter user took advantage of the $8/month subscription to make a verified LeBron James account., On Nov. 9, the new blue check “King” — with the handle @kingjamez — demanded a trade from the Los Angeles Lakers. As expected, this created outright chaos with the post receiving thousands of retweets.
“I am officially requesting a trade,” tweeted the fake LeBron. “Thank you #LakersNation for all the support through the years. 💯 Onto bigger and better things! 👑 #ThekidfromAKRON #ImComingHome.” The account has since been removed.
With this horrible new Twitter update, please be extremely careful when reading a report. Always double check their profile.
We have impersonators running wild today. (Both of these aren’t true) pic.twitter.com/edBc8lgBRI
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) November 9, 2022
@LegionHoops does make a good point here. This kills so much credibility for Twitter in terms of getting your news from them. Literally anybody can get a blue check now and automatically look “verified,” which sounds awesome on paper, and then you run into problems like this.
On the other hand, it creates outright chaos that is entertaining as hell to witness, and as a blogger, yours truly does appreciate Elon Musk for the crash social media. You know, it’s like crash TV, but for social media — new term coined!
As you see from above, this also happened with a verified “ESPN Insider Adam Schefter” account, which “reported” that the Las Vegas Raiders had fired head coach Josh McDaniels. That account, too, was suspended, but the confusion was massive, with the profile having both the blue check and Schefter’s profile picture that he uses on his real account. The post racked up thousands of retweets. (RELATED: Watch These Glorious Videos Of Eli Manning Swagged Out, Hanging Out With A Raper In Studio And Taking Shots)
Crash social media, baby.
Ultimately, this is going to ruin the blue check system for all of us who want it and would use it properly, but as you see, people can’t control themselves and Twitter is like the friggin’ wild, wild west at the moment. (Update while writing this: Twitter has indeed halted applications to get a blue check, called that.)
Just ask the fake account that posed as closing pitcher Aroldis Chapman, who is currently a free agent, and made the “announcement” that he was sticking with the New York Yankees on a new three-year deal. Ask “Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid” after he made his “announced” he was being traded to the New York Islanders. Oh, that’s right, you can’t. They’re both suspended.
Chaos, absolute chaos.
Thanks, Elon. This shit is great.