Elon Musk Backs 'free Speech' Post Ban On Twitter Handles Impersonating Sans 'parody' Note

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who recently acquired the microblogging platform Twitter, advocated 'free speech' only hours after parody accounts were banned.
November 7, 2022 by Anwesha Majumdar
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who recently acquired the microblogging platform Twitter, advocated 'free speech' only hours after parody accounts were banned for using his name as their own. On Sunday, the new owner of the social media site announced that any Twitter account that impersonates another would have its account permanently suspended. However, taking to Twitter, Musk recently said, “My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk.”
Musk made the comments of suspending accounts after several celebrities altered their Twitter display names, but not their account names, and tweeted as "Elon Musk," in response to the billionaire's plan to charge verified accounts $8 per month. Highlighting this, Musk said in a tweet, “Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended”.
In a subsequent tweet, Musk said, “Previously, we issued a warning before 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 added that "any name change at all" would necessitate the temporary loss of a verified tick mark.
Elon Musk parody account
Comedian Kathy Griffin was one of those whose account was suspended on Sunday for changing her screen name to Musk. The same was done by actress Valerie Bertinelli, who on Saturday tweeted a number of times in favor of Democratic candidates before going back to using her own account. “Okey-dokey. I've had fun and I think I made my point,” she tweeted later, Associated Press reported.
Besides this, a verified Twitter account impersonating billionaire Elon Musk gained fame for posting the Hindi lyrics of the well-known Bhojpuri song Lollipop Lagelu. The account was suspended a few hours after the tweet went viral. According to media reports, the account belonged to Melbourne-based professor Ian Woolford, who teaches Hindi at La Trobe University. His Twitter account, which has since been banned, was nearly similar to Musk's, down to the same bio and profile photo.
In the wake of the company's ongoing layoffs, some significant companies have stopped running paid advertisements on the microblogging platform Twitter. United Airlines, General Mills, General Motors, Pfizer Inc., and other businesses reportedly prohibited Twitter advertisements. Due to speculations about how the social media site will function under new owner Elon Musk, along with these companies, Audi has also ceased placing Twitter advertisements.
Advertisers are worried about whether Musk, who calls himself a "free speech absolutist," would maintain the same level of stringent content filtering and whether continuing to use Twitter will affect their businesses, according to the CBS News report.