TechSoftwareAppsThis free Google Chrome upgrade exposes fake Twitter accountsDon’t let the verified fakes fool you: this extension means hoaxers can’t hideWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
TechSoftwareAppsThis free Google Chrome upgrade exposes fake Twitter accountsDon’t let the verified fakes fool you: this extension means hoaxers can’t hideWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Don’t let the verified fakes fool you: this extension means hoaxers can’t hide
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: ANDROID POLICE)
(Image credit: ANDROID POLICE)
The good news is that for us at least, there’s an easy fix.
How to spot fake verified profiles on Twitter
At the moment there are two kinds of “blue ticks” on Twitter. There’s the kind I and lots of other long-term Twitter users have, where I had to provide a government-issued ID and give Twitter evidence that I was a tech journalist before it would verify my account. That kind of verification is designed to say “hey, this person is who they claim to be” so you can be sure you’re not talking to an impostor.
The other kind of blue tick looks identical, but you don’t need to prove anything: hand over $8 for Twitter Blue (if it still exists; it’s vanished from the apps today) and you too can be OJ Simpson, Tony Blair, George W Bush or the celebrity or brand of your choice. If you look really really closely you’ll often see that the actual name isn’t the right one, but that’s quite time-consuming.
The solution? You could dump Twitter completely and useMastodoninstead, but if you’re keen to stay on the cursed bird site then you can use Chrome and install theEight Dollars extension. This does something very simple and very effective: when you look at a profile it tells you whether it’s “actually verified” (hello!) or “paid for verification”. That way you can see instantly whether a profile is likely to be a troll or something more sinister.
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