X says it is creating a new profile label to signify accounts that are parodies of a person or entity. The company says it “designed these labels to increase transparency and to ensure that users are not deceived into thinking such accounts belong to the entity being parodied.”
As of now, accounts will be able to add the parody label voluntary, but X suggests they will eventually become mandatory.
We’re rolling out profile labels for parody accounts to clearly distinguish these types of accounts and their content on our platform. We designed these labels to increase transparency and to ensure that users are not deceived into thinking such accounts belong to the entity…
— Safety (@Safety) January 10, 2025
This may sound like old history at this point, but back when it was still called Twitter, the social network had an ingenious way to distinguish between legitimate and satirical accounts: The blue checkmark. The badge was well-established as a signal of authenticity; users knew to look skeptically at any account representing a prominent figure that did not display that iconic blue checkmark. It was an easy heuristic that people intuitively understood, and it meant you did not have to explain that an account was satirical, which ruins the joke.
Of course, when Elon Musk took over the platform he decided to take a sledgehammer to Twitter’s verified user program. Musk felt that the checkmark, which had been reserved for public figures like journalists and celebrities, was bequeathed arbitrarily and lent status to people he believed did not deserve it. Neo-nazis and other fringe figures were also not given checkmarks and conservatives felt the program was biased against them.
Allowing anyone to have a checkmark would eliminate the hierarchy, making everyone equal, or so the thinking went. It was also supposed to address the problem of bots by elevating accounts that had put down a credit card, therefore verifying “humanness.”
Of course, problems emerged quickly. Because users do not need to verify their true identity matches the name on the account, imposters spawned a swell of fake verified accounts to make outrageous posts under the names of figures like George W. Bush and Joe Biden. Now, corporations and government officials have their own differentiated badges—companies can pay tens of thousands annually for special checkmarks, and accounts affiliated with government officials or organizations get silver checkmarks.
The new verified system does not even seem effective at establishing “humanness” of regular users. Verified users can earn revenue on the platform when their posts get a lot of engagement, creating bad incentives for abuse. The replies under popular posts are littered with verified accounts posting unrelated memes to try and get engagement. And users like @CharlieKNews and @TuckerCNews feature “verified” checkmarks, laundering the names of prominent individuals to trick users into engaging with them.
Many of these accounts appear to be completely random people who steal content from others or post AI-generated bait in order to farm engagement and earn money. For individuals in countries where wages are much lower, it can potentially be good money, too, and more than cover the cost of the monthly entry fee. Running a slew of engagement farming accounts does not seem like authentic, human behavior.
Blue checkmarks on X have lost all value. © GizmodoThe new parody badges are another way that X is trying to solve a problem that it created itself and help users distinguish what is real or fake. It may have taken the company a couple of years, but it has essentially come back around to where it started before. Except this time the whole system is a confusing mess.
This all just devalues the platform for users, but X lost much of its advertising revenue after Musk took over and needs the money from users paying for checkmarks, so this is what we get.
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