Twitter gives out "blue ticks" to everyone for $8: Fake celebrities "took over" the social network, even Musk "got hacked"

New Twitter owner Elon Musk has, as promised, launched an upgraded Twitter Blue subscription for $8 a month. The new features haven't been officially launched yet, they're just being tested. But some users have already received the update and made some noise on the social network.

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If before only celebrities, famous companies and politicians got the "blue tick", now everyone can get it - you only need to pay for a subscription. To date, the only advantage that gives Twitter Blue - is the tick, but in the future it is also promised a smaller number of ads, the ability to publish long videos and the priority ranking of posts.

However, everyone is used to the fact that the "blue tick" is only given to VIP-users: previously it meant that the profile was not fake, and its owner was verified. Taking advantage of this, fake "celebrities" began to fill the social network with misinformation.

A prime example was the story of the fake Tobey Maguire. One user with a "blue check mark" simply changed his name to the name of the actor, added his photo and published a post about the release of the movie "Spider-Man 4" with Maguire and director Sam Raimi on May 3, 2024. In just a few hours, the news spread throughout the online world at the speed of wildfire, garnering tens of thousands of retweets and over 100,000 likes.

And another user thus impersonated Musk himself, publishing a post that said: "There's nothing better than waking up and enjoying a fresh and steaming cup of my own urine. Such a tangy way to start the day, and it's scientifically proven to help brain cell grow. If you want to be like me, drink your pee." His account was temporarily blocked, but the tweet managed to go viral.

Source: @Cade_Onder, @esthercrawford