Elon Musk's Twitter illustration is seen connected a smartphone placed connected printed Twitter logos successful this representation illustration taken April 28, 2022.
Dado Ruvic | Reuters
Sen. Ed Markey chastised Twitter's proprietor Elon Musk Sunday for his effect to Markey's petition for answers astir the platform's caller verification and impersonation policies.
After a Washington Post newsman successfully acceptable up a fake verified account pretending to beryllium the Massachusetts Democrat, Markey shared a letter to Musk connected Twitter Friday asking him to "explain however this happened and however to forestall it from happening again."
In response, Musk wrote backmost to Markey successful a tweet Sunday and said, "Perhaps it is due to the fact that your existent relationship sounds similar a parody?"
Markey did not look to admit Musk's response.
"One of your companies is nether an FTC consent decree. Auto information watchdog NHTSA is investigating different for sidesplitting people. And you're spending your clip picking fights online. Fix your companies. Or Congress will," Markey wrote successful a tweet Sunday.
Twitter appeared to have paused the $7.99 a period Twitter Blue verification program shortly aft the Post ran its trial arsenic impersonations of celebrities and brands proliferated crossed the platform.
But anterior to the pause, the Post was capable to acceptable up a Twitter grip called "@realEdMarkey" utilizing "a spare iPhone, a recognition paper and a small creativity." The relationship received a bluish verified checkmark, adjacent though Markey already has 2 morganatic verified accounts.
The bluish cheque is expected to beryllium a diagnostic of the paid Twitter Blue, but the Post newsman recovered that Twitter said the fake Markey relationship was verified "because it's notable successful government, news, entertainment, oregon different designated category."
Twitter has recently mislaid cardinal privacy and content moderation executives.
"Safeguards specified arsenic Twitter's bluish checkmark erstwhile allowed users to beryllium smart, captious consumers of quality and accusation successful Twitter's planetary municipality square," Markey wrote successful his missive to Musk. "But your Twitter takeover, accelerated and haphazard imposition of level changes, removal of safeguards against disinformation, and firing of ample numbers of Twitter employees person accelerated Twitter's descent into the Wild West of societal media."
Markey asked Musk to respond to his questions successful penning by Nov. 25.
The speech betwixt Musk and Markey connected Twitter is not the archetypal clip the brace has gone head-to-head.
Musk is besides the CEO of the automaker Tesla, and Tesla's operator assistance systems are branded Autopilot and Full Self Driving successful the U.S. During a bid of Tesla crashes successful August 2021, Markey and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) expressed "serious concerns" astir the mode the institution advertises these technologies. They asked the Federal Trade Commission to motorboat an investigation.
The senators besides called connected the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration successful June to instrumentality "aggressive investigative and enforcement enactment connected vehicles with automated driving systems (ADS) and precocious operator assistance systems (ADAS)" aft the medication released information showing much than 500 crashes successful vehicles with these technologies.
— CNBC's Lauren Feiner and Laura Kolodny contributed to this report.