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My understanding is that this behavior already violated the rules, it's not like Elon made this up on the spot (although perhaps he changed the punishment.) I

My understanding is that this behavior already violated the rules, it's not like Elon made this up on the spot (although perhaps he changed the punishment.) I believe when this happens to less-sympathetic parties we chalk this up to "freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences", right? I mean, few people are actually going to defend a right to misrepresentation. Depending of the circumstances it could actually be libel/defamation, right?

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atoav 4y ago
> freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences This is the point I am not sure Elon Musk would have agreed with you about before aquiring the platform.
socialismisok 4y ago
If I print the words Elon musk on a sheet of paper and tape it to my chest and start making stupid comments, I'm generally considered ok. These "impersonations" are flimsy paper masks of Elon's face with the eyes cut out so you can see through. This whole enforcement change is nothing more than Elmer Fudd throwing a tantrum because he bought a website full to the brim of bugs bunnies.
- yanderekko 4y ago
  >These "impersonations" are flimsy paper masks of Elon's face with the eyes cut out so you can see through. Debatable. If I go on a major Mastadon instance and impersonate an admin or a top celebrity there will I get banned? If I do, should I expect much sympathy if I accuse the relevant admins of throwing a tantrum? Can I go on a major Mastadon instance and pretend to be a politician up for re-election and start making claims in hopes of damaging their electoral prospects? It just strikes me as implausible that the people who are accusing Musk of being thin-skinned here actually believe that this sort of impersonation is defensible behavior. I guess it's reminiscent of the people who pearl-clutch about political violence but also were okay with Griffith doing a photoshoot posing with Trump's bloody decapitated head.
  - maxbond 4y ago
    Have you spent very much time on Twitter? Lots of people have silly names like this. You quickly learn to use people's handles & the verified check mark. This is very much parody that is normal on Twitter & which most people would immediately recognize.
    - theonething 4y ago
      > Lots of people have silly names like this Problem is Kathy didn't change her name to something that clearly indicated parody. She just changed it to "Elon Musk" a clear violation of Twitter policy that existed way before Elon got involved.
  - Apocryphon 4y ago
    Twitter "impersonations" have been around forever and are easily spotted from a mile away. If anything they are a fun social engineering hack of that platform's outdated UI and bizarre lack of oversight on already-verified accounts.
  - socialismisok 4y ago
    None of those things are this thing. You don't need overwrought hypotheticals because all of these things are satire or parody. They are extremely obvious parody. The people doing Bitcoin scams are impersonating Musk, fine, ban those if you want. But it's patently absurd to call changing your handle to Elon Musk "impersonation".
    - yanderekko 4y ago
      They're doing more than changing the handle. Again, if someone were impersonating say the White House and making outrageous statement I doubt people would just be like "it's obvious, just let them have their fun."
      - socialismisok 4y ago
        I think you must not use Twitter, what you describe is extremely common. And yes, I omitted that they also changed their profile picture. But their @id is still stamped right on top of every tweet.
slg 4y ago
Yes, this behavior was already against the rules. What Griffin is doing is a form of civil disobedience by intentionally breaking the rules to call attention to them. Previously this was a rule that was rarely broken because verification was hard to get and usually reserved for people who had a material interest in keeping it. That gave a strong incentive not to pull these hijinks. Next week verification will be as easy as spending $8. There are going to be a huge wave of accounts that think whatever they can get out of impersonating someone is worth more than the chance of losing their $8 investment.
- exodust 4y ago
  Sounds like a good way to get rid of low quality accounts. It doesn't get much more pathetic than paying $8 for the chance to troll and knock furniture over as you exit Twitter in a huff.
  - slg 4y ago
    The point is that it is easy to suspend these accounts when only a dozen or so celebrities are doing this. Is Twitter going to be as quick to find and ban these accounts when anyone can do it and after they have already made cuts to their moderation team? Plus if it was that easy to find these low quality accounts, Twitter wouldn't have the spam and bot problem that Musk talks about them having.
  - Brian_K_White 4y ago
    I think I found Elon impersonating a rando on HN.
  - krapp 4y ago
    > It doesn't get much more pathetic than paying $8 for the chance to troll and knock furniture over as you exit Twitter in a huff. More pathetic is Elon trying to publicly upsell Stephen King on the subscription at $20, then immediately backing down to $8[0]. [0]https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/elon-musk-twitter-blue-checkmark-stephen-king-1235252656/ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/elon-musk...

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atoav 4y ago

> freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences This is the point I am not sure Elon Musk would have agreed with you about before aquiring the platform.

socialismisok 4y ago

If I print the words Elon musk on a sheet of paper and tape it to my chest and start making stupid comments, I'm generally considered ok. These "impersonations" are flimsy paper masks of Elon's face with the eyes cut out so you can see through. This whole enforcement change is nothing more than Elmer Fudd throwing a tantrum because he bought a website full to the brim of bugs bunnies.

yanderekko 4y ago
>These "impersonations" are flimsy paper masks of Elon's face with the eyes cut out so you can see through. Debatable. If I go on a major Mastadon instance and impersonate an admin or a top celebrity there will I get banned? If I do, should I expect much sympathy if I accuse the relevant admins of throwing a tantrum? Can I go on a major Mastadon instance and pretend to be a politician up for re-election and start making claims in hopes of damaging their electoral prospects? It just strikes me as implausible that the people who are accusing Musk of being thin-skinned here actually believe that this sort of impersonation is defensible behavior. I guess it's reminiscent of the people who pearl-clutch about political violence but also were okay with Griffith doing a photoshoot posing with Trump's bloody decapitated head.
- maxbond 4y ago
  Have you spent very much time on Twitter? Lots of people have silly names like this. You quickly learn to use people's handles & the verified check mark. This is very much parody that is normal on Twitter & which most people would immediately recognize.
  - theonething 4y ago
    > Lots of people have silly names like this Problem is Kathy didn't change her name to something that clearly indicated parody. She just changed it to "Elon Musk" a clear violation of Twitter policy that existed way before Elon got involved.
- Apocryphon 4y ago
  Twitter "impersonations" have been around forever and are easily spotted from a mile away. If anything they are a fun social engineering hack of that platform's outdated UI and bizarre lack of oversight on already-verified accounts.
- socialismisok 4y ago
  None of those things are this thing. You don't need overwrought hypotheticals because all of these things are satire or parody. They are extremely obvious parody. The people doing Bitcoin scams are impersonating Musk, fine, ban those if you want. But it's patently absurd to call changing your handle to Elon Musk "impersonation".
  - yanderekko 4y ago
    They're doing more than changing the handle. Again, if someone were impersonating say the White House and making outrageous statement I doubt people would just be like "it's obvious, just let them have their fun."
    - socialismisok 4y ago
      I think you must not use Twitter, what you describe is extremely common. And yes, I omitted that they also changed their profile picture. But their @id is still stamped right on top of every tweet.

slg 4y ago

Yes, this behavior was already against the rules. What Griffin is doing is a form of civil disobedience by intentionally breaking the rules to call attention to them. Previously this was a rule that was rarely broken because verification was hard to get and usually reserved for people who had a material interest in keeping it. That gave a strong incentive not to pull these hijinks. Next week verification will be as easy as spending $8. There are going to be a huge wave of accounts that think whatever they can get out of impersonating someone is worth more than the chance of losing their $8 investment.

exodust 4y ago
Sounds like a good way to get rid of low quality accounts. It doesn't get much more pathetic than paying $8 for the chance to troll and knock furniture over as you exit Twitter in a huff.
- slg 4y ago
  The point is that it is easy to suspend these accounts when only a dozen or so celebrities are doing this. Is Twitter going to be as quick to find and ban these accounts when anyone can do it and after they have already made cuts to their moderation team? Plus if it was that easy to find these low quality accounts, Twitter wouldn't have the spam and bot problem that Musk talks about them having.
- Brian_K_White 4y ago
  I think I found Elon impersonating a rando on HN.
- krapp 4y ago
  > It doesn't get much more pathetic than paying $8 for the chance to troll and knock furniture over as you exit Twitter in a huff. More pathetic is Elon trying to publicly upsell Stephen King on the subscription at $20, then immediately backing down to $8[0]. [0]https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/elon-musk-twitter-blue-checkmark-stephen-king-1235252656/ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/elon-musk...