The new face of Twitter in the Musk era? American comedian Kathy Griffin saw her account, followed by more than 2 million followers, suspended on Sunday 6 November. His fault: having used, for a parodic and militant purpose, the name of the new boss of the social network, the billionaire Elon Musk.
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The actress used this subterfuge to urge Americans, in a humorous tone, to vote for the Democrats in Tuesday’s midterm elections, in particular in order to preserve the right to abortion.
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An immediate penalty
“Going forward, all Twitter accounts that engage in impersonation without clearly specifying ‘parody’ will be permanently suspended.”, threatened the entrepreneur in a tweet. Before adding: “Any name change will cause the temporary loss of the ‘verified’ tick. » Elon Musk then said that to recover his account, Kathy Griffin would have to pay 8 dollars – the price of the future subscription to the “Twitter Blue” service.
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The arbitrary punishment sparked outrage on Twitter. The social network’s policy has always prohibited identity theft, but this kind of immediate sentence is unprecedented. Previously, the procedure went through several reports and warnings.
In response, Kathy Griffin resurfaced on the platform with the account of her deceased mother. “I came back from the grave to say… #FreeKathy”, she posted as a comment to Elon Musk’s tweet.
“Freedom of expression” at the expense of information
The billionaire had nevertheless made the defense of freedom of expression the spearhead of his plan to buy Twitter, including to the detriment of the press. “Verification extended to all will democratize journalism and give more power to the people”he tweeted on Sunday. “Journalists who think they are the only legitimate source of information is the big lie”said Elon Musk.
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As soon as he acquired Twitter ten days ago, the Tesla boss launched an overhaul of the profile verification system, so that everyone could obtain the famous associated blue badge and access to other tools by subscribing to “Twitter Blue” for $8 a month. In addition, Elon Musk has just fired about half of Twitter’s 7,500 employees.
He does not, however, intend to attack automated accounts following the trajectory of his private jet: “My commitment to free speech even extends to not banning the account following my plane, even if it is a direct risk to personal safety”he tweeted on Sunday evening.
