Twitter's new owner Elon Musk on Sunday tweeted that the microblogging site will permanently suspend any account that impersonates another.
"Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying "parody" will be permanently suspended," Musk wrote.
In a separate tweet, Musk said Twitter previously issued a warning before suspension, but as Twitter is rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning as well as "no exceptions."
"Previously, we issued a warning before the suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning. This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue," he tweeted.
He also said that any name change now will cause a temporary loss of the verified checkmarks.
"Any name change at all will cause temporary loss of verified checkmark," he further tweeted.
Comedian Kathy Griffin's became the first casualty of the move as her account got suspended.
Griffin had changed her profile name to Musk, following which she seems to have been promptly banned from the social media site, as per Fox news reports.
Despite her handle showing her own @kathygriffin name, the moniker by her blue checkmark. Elon Musk said this goes against the company policy against impersonation.
Sharing the tweet, Elon Musk wrote, "BREAKING: @kathygriffin has been permanently suspended from Twitter for impersonating."
He continued, "Actually, she was suspended for impersonating a comedian."
Earlier, Twitter updated its iOS app for Apple iPhone users, including the new USD 7.99 per month Blue subscription.
Twitter Blue with verification is currently available on iOS in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
On Tuesday, Musk confirmed the reports and announced that the company would charge USD 8 a month for Twitter's subscription service with priority in replies, mentions, and searches.
"Twitter's current lords and peasants system for who has or doesn't have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for USD 8/month," he tweeted.
However, Musk's decision to implement the blue tick fee did not go well with many. Even some advertiser pulled back their leg from the site. The Twitter Blue subscription launched widely almost a year ago as a way to view ad-free articles from some publishers and make other tweaks to the app, such as a different colour home screen icon.
Apart from the "blue tick fee", Musk has also been receiving a lot of hate on Twitter for laying off employees.
Defending his decision to fire employees, Musk said that it was needed as Twitter was losing more than USD 4 million per day.
"Regarding Twitter's reduction in force, unfortunately, there is no choice when the company is losing over USD 4M/day. Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required," Musk tweeted.
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