Democrat Senator With Masked Profile Image Threatens Elon Musk

Democratic Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts threatened Elon Musk to change the verification process on Twitter with congressional action.

Over the weekend, Markey shared a hit piece article in Jeff Bezos' Washington Post that accused Musk of allowing trolls to impersonate supposedly important figures like Markey. Paper "columnist" Geoffrey Fowler teamed up with Markey to create a fake verified account of the senator. The duo set out to prove Musk's Twitter Blue program problematic.

"We got Twitter ‘verified’ in minutes posing as a comedian and a senator," writes Fowler.

In short, Fowler created an account under the name "Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.)" and paid for a blue check. The "reporter" then posed as the senator for the sake of the story.

"A blue check mark no longer means somebody is who they say they are — and that makes Twitter a much less reliable source of information," Fowler wrote. "Then I did my test again with the permission of a U.S. senator, Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.). In a few minutes, I got a blue check mark on an impersonation of the lawmaker, who has for years scrutinized tech giants in the Senate."

Sunday, the struggling politician tweeted the link to the story and warned Musk he best prevent any further Fake Markeys.

"Fix your companies. Or Congress will," Markey tweeted to Musk on Sunday. 

Scary, scary.

Literally, threatening government action for hurt feelings is far more concerning than dubiously verified Twitter accounts.

We forgot to mention an important development in the Washington Post "report." In order to impersonate Markey, the mark at the Post had to upload the correct photo (as seen above), which included Markey still in a mask.

It's November 2022, and this particular Democrat still has a masked-up profile image.

For a better look:

Chief Twit noticed the cloth, as well. He also astutely deemed Sen. Markey as a parody of himself.

The answer: Markey is a pandering schmuck. Imagine collaborating with a formerly prestigious newspaper to create a fake account of yourself because no one else has cared to.

There are some individuals at risk of verified parody accounts. This group includes people who matter; Markey does not matter. In fact, he wishes someone would parody him. He's a man seeking attention and purpose. He has neither at the time of publication.

While fake blue-checks can be a hassle, the phenomenon has proven intriguing. See, hacks have trolled the internet since its inception and have done so for free. Now, Elon Musk is charging them $8 a month to troll with a fancy verification mark.

He's monetizing the trolls and angering the Markeys.