The Twitter account of comedian Kathy Griffin was suspended Sunday after she switched her page’s name to “Elon Musk” and mocked the new CEO though it wasn’t immediately clear whether the suspension was a direct result of her mockery.
Griffin has apparently been suspended from Twitter for impersonating Musk after she changed her name on the service and was imploring people to vote for Democrats in Tuesday’s midterm elections by tweeting as Musk.
Although Twitter’s policy has always prohibited impersonation, Musk warned on Sunday that unless the account was clearly marked as parody, anyone impersonating a public figure – celebrities and other notables – would be permanently suspended.
However, it is still unclear whether Griffin’s suspension was permanent.
Musk issued the warning as the platform’s new owner after some celebrities changed their Twitter display names to protest Musk’s decision to charge all comers $8 a month for verified accounts and his laying off a big chunk of Twitter’s workforce.
The world’s richest man announced that while Twitter previously issued warnings before suspensions, there will be no warning now that it is rolling out widespread verification, meaning that any name change at all would compel the temporary loss of a verified checkmark.
The main beneficiary of this policy, which might seem to contradict Musk’s claim to be a free speech absolutist, would appear to be Musk himself.
Though examples of suspensions for impersonating other people without the “parody” label were few, a wave of Twitter users changed their page titles to his in recent days to criticize his libertarian outlook and tenure on the platform.
They include a user whose page impersonated right-wing provocateur Andy Ngo, who appealed to Musk personally to take action and someone whose page impersonated actor Keanu Reeves to criticize Musk’s “parody” policy.
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