5 examples of why Twitter is in complete chaos right now

Twitter is a mess right now. A total mess.

The app is in chaos and new owner Elon Musk has been going about the whole thing with all the authority of a substitute teacher losing control of the class.

Plenty has changed over a short space of time. The main issue facing Twitter is that people have begun manipulating the use of blue verified badges that can now be purchased for $7.99 a month.

While being verified previously served as proof that people had been vetted by the service, pretty much anyone is now able to purchase a blue tick under Twitter’s new premium subscription service, Twitter Blue.

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It means anyone willing to pay that small amount can impersonate celebrities and public figures simply by changing their name and adding a different picture. It’s the wild west out there at the moment – here are just examples that prove it.

Celebs are leaving in their droves

On Tuesday, Stephen Fry became the latest celebrity to take his leave by posting a picture of Scrabble letters spelling out “Goodbye” to his 12.5 million followers.

Whoopi Goldberg, Gigi Hadid, Jameela Jamil, Toni Braxton, Shonda Rhimes, Sara Bareilles, Tea Leoni, Brian Koppelman, Erk Larsen, Mick Foley and Alex Winter have also left following the recent developments on the app.

Musk couldn’t care less about MP's fake news

Daventry MP and Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris claimed that someone had sent an email to press outlets wrongly informing them that he had resigned from his roles.

In a tweet, he tagged the new Twitter CEO Musk and said he hopes the billionaire will “eliminate” fake news on the website and make it a priority to do so.

He wrote: “Hello Twitter! Someone has sent a fake e-mail to press outlets saying I’ve resigned. This is totally untrue.

“I hope one of @elonmusk first moves is to eliminate fake news on Twitter… Very exciting I know, but complete and utter tosh.”

Instead of acting, Musk seemed to not care at all when he replied by asking what “tosh” was. Helpful.

This exchange between ‘George Bush’ and ‘Tony Blair’

Genuine-looking parody accounts of politicians like Tony Blair and George W Bush have been created following the introduction of Twitter Blue, making reference to the controversial Iraq war that both oversaw.

An account with a blue tick parodying former US President George W Bush tweeted: “I miss killing Iraqis.”

Quoting the “Bush” tweet, a parody account of the former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair responded: “Same tbh.”

Both of the parody accounts have since been deleted, but it looks like this sort of thing will be an ongoing problem for the platform.

Elon’s taking jokes very badly

Self-professed "free speech absolutist" Musk was rubbed up the wrong way by accounts poking fun at him – ironically after tweeting "comedy is now legal."

Verified accounts were changing their names to 'Elon Musk' and "impersonating" the Tesla founder, including comedian Kathy Griffin and internet personality Ethan Klein.

Klein tweeted: "Yes, I could have ended world hunger instead of buying Twitter, but people don’t understand the importance of having a free and open forum.

"If somebody dies of starvation in Sudan, it won’t affect the world. But being able to say the N-word on Twitter is a right we all deserve."

Musk was unamused and threatened users with permanent bans.

He declared on November 6th that "Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying 'parody' will be permanently suspended."

Parody accounts

Musk then went one step further by writing on Wednesday: “Going forward, accounts engaged in parody must include “parody” in their name, not just in bio.”

He more added: “To be more precise, accounts doing parody impersonations. Basically, tricking people is not ok.”

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