The account, which had been suspended in 2017, was reinstated last year after being taken over by Elon Musk, and was subsequently granted a verification mark
After an overhaul of its verification system by its new owner, Elon Musk, Twitter has awarded the far-right political group, Britain First, with a gold tick. Additionally, the party’s leader, Paul Golding, who was previously convicted of religiously aggravated harassment and sentenced to jail in 2018, has been granted a blue tick for his account, which will elevate the visibility of his posts in conversations and user searches.
Twitter’s website states that the gold tick signifies a verified business or non-profit organization. In the UK, Twitter is offering this official status to entities for a monthly fee of £1,140, while personal accounts are being charged £9.60 for a blue tick.
In 2017, Britain First, which advocates for imprisonment of those attempting to change the demographic composition of the British Isles, had its Twitter account suspended, but it was reinstated after Elon Musk took over the platform last year.
According to the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a campaigning group, Twitter is promoting extreme content to create controversy and increase user engagement in order to generate more revenue.
Imran Ahmed, CEO of CCDH, remarked that Twitter has become a world turned upside down, where reliable sources of information are disregarded, and attention is given to those who spread hate, falsehoods, and discord. He also noted that it is increasingly challenging to discern what is trustworthy on the platform, while malevolent actors are given prominence.
The accounts of Britain First and its leader, Paul Golding, have 12,700 and 45,300 followers, respectively.
Twitter’s recently introduced paid verification system faced further difficulties on Monday when the platform granted a gold tick to a counterfeit Disney account. This is the latest instance of malicious actors creating “approved” spoofs.
Twitter’s previous attempt to charge for verification, which occurred under Elon Musk’s ownership, was terminated in November of last year due to pranksters taking over the opportunity to pay for a verified account. As an example, a counterfeit account representing pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly, which had paid for verification, made a false announcement about free insulin. Other impersonators targeted gaming company Nintendo and the Pope.
The issue of impersonation was one of the reasons behind a decline in advertising revenue on Twitter since Musk’s takeover in October 2022. Prior to the deal, advertising represented 90% of Twitter’s $5 billion in annual revenue. In February, Musk revealed that he expects the company’s turnover to be under $3 billion this year, indicating a slump in its advertising business.
Disney did not provide a comment. However, it is believed that the company, which ceased broadcasting the Disney Junior UK channel in 2020 and removed the associated Twitter handle at the same time, contacted Twitter as soon as it became aware of the fake account on Monday morning.
When approached for comment regarding the accounts of Britain First and Disney Junior UK, Twitter’s press office responded with an automatically generated poop emoji, which has become the standard response for all media inquiries to the company.
