Sen. Ed Markey hits again at Elon Musk after his response to questions on impersonation

Elon Musk’s Twitter profile is seen on a smartphone positioned on printed Twitter logos on this image illustration taken April 28, 2022.

Dado Ruvic | Reuters

Sen. Ed Markey chastised Twitter’s proprietor Elon Musk Sunday for his response to Markey’s request for solutions in regards to the platform’s new verification and impersonation insurance policies.

After a Washington Publish reporter efficiently arrange a pretend verified account pretending to be the Massachusetts Democrat, Markey shared a letter to Musk on Twitter Friday asking him to “clarify how this occurred and how you can forestall it from occurring once more.”

In response, Musk wrote again to Markey in a tweet Sunday and mentioned, “Maybe it’s as a result of your actual account feels like a parody?”

Markey didn’t seem to understand Musk’s response.

“One in every of your firms is beneath an FTC consent decree. Auto security watchdog NHTSA is investigating one other for killing folks. And also you’re spending your time selecting fights on-line. Repair your firms. Or Congress will,” Markey wrote in a tweet Sunday.

Twitter appeared to have paused the $7.99 a month Twitter Blue verification program shortly after the Publish ran its take a look at as impersonations of celebrities and types proliferated throughout the platform.

However previous to the pause, the Publish was capable of arrange a Twitter deal with known as “@realEdMarkey” utilizing “a spare iPhone, a bank card and a bit creativity.” The account acquired a blue verified checkmark, regardless that Markey already has two reliable verified accounts.

The blue test is meant to be a characteristic of the paid Twitter Blue, however the Publish reporter discovered that Twitter mentioned the pretend Markey account was verified “as a result of it is notable in authorities, information, leisure, or one other designated class.”

Twitter has just lately misplaced key privateness and content material moderation executives.

“Safeguards comparable to Twitter’s blue checkmark as soon as allowed customers to be sensible, essential customers of reports and data in Twitter’s world city sq.,” Markey wrote in his letter to Musk. “However your Twitter takeover, fast and haphazard imposition of platform adjustments, removing of safeguards towards disinformation, and firing of enormous numbers of Twitter workers have accelerated Twitter’s descent into the Wild West of social media.”

Markey requested Musk to answer his questions in writing by Nov. 25.

The alternate between Musk and Markey on Twitter just isn’t the primary time the pair has gone head-to-head.

Musk can be the CEO of the automaker Tesla, and Tesla’s driver help methods are branded Autopilot and Full Self Driving within the US Throughout a collection of Tesla crashes in August 2021, Markey and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) expressed “severe issues” about the best way the corporate advertises these applied sciences. They requested the Federal Commerce Fee to launch an investigation.

The senators additionally known as on the Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration in June to take “aggressive investigative and enforcement motion on autos with automated driving methods (ADS) and superior driver help methods (ADAS)” after the administration launched information exhibiting greater than 500 crashes in autos with these applied sciences.

— CNBC’s Lauren Feiner and Laura Kolodny contributed to this report.