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US Senator Ed Markey slammed Elon Musk after a reporter was able to make a verified account under the former's name, despite the new CEO's strict rules on impersonation policies.
On November 12, 2022, the 76-year-old Massachusetts Senator took to his Twitter handle to share a lengthy letter addressed to Musk. In the letter, he detailed how a reporter from the Washington Post created a fake verified account impersonating the Senator. He also asked Musk "how this happened and how to prevent it from happening again."
Addressing the issue, Musk replied to the tweet and said:
"Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody?"
The new CEO of Twitter also took a dig at the Senator's display picture on the micro-blogging site.
Senator Ed Markey was reappointed 19 times and has also authored a book
Senator Ed Markey was born on July 11, 1946, and has been involved in politics since early 1970s. The Malden, Massachusetts, native was raised in a Roman Catholic household and graduated from Boston College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1968. He graduated with a law degree from Boston Law College in 1972.
A year later, in 1973, Ed Markey was elected to the House of Representatives of Massachusetts, where he rose up the ranks gradually and made a mark in the state's Democratic Party.
In 1976, he won a special election against his Republican opponent for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Following this, he was reappointed 19 times. While in the House, Ed authored a book titled Nuclear Peril: The Politics of Proliferation. He also wrote the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009.
Markey was appointed as the U.S. secretary of state in June 2013 after the seat was vacated by John Kerry. Ed was reelected in 2014.
The Senator married Susan Blumenthal in 1988.
When Musk made fun of Markey's social media profile and display picture, the latter slammed Musk for spending his time "picking fights online."
As of writing, Ed Markey's reply garnered 167,700 likes and over 22,000 retweets.
What did the Washington Post reporter do?
According to Markey's lengthy letter, a Washington Post reporter created a fake Twitter profile called "@readEdMarkey." The former stated that the reporter created the profile with a "a spare iPhone, a credit card and a little creativity.”
After paying a small amount of money, the fake profile even got the blue tick mark under Markey's name, even though he already has two accounts.
In the letter, Markey also wrote:
“Apparently, due to Twitter’s lax verification practices and apparent need for cash, anyone could pay $8.00 and impersonate someone on your platform. Selling the truth is dangerous and unacceptable.”
The U.S. Senator's letter comes days after the newly self-appointed Twitter CEO, rolled out a $8 monthly subscription charge to get accounts verified.
As of writing, Elon Musk has not responded to Ed Markey's comments on Twitter's privacy.
