Op: Twitter Confusedly Adding a Verified Blue Checkmark to a Fake Account

Someone has found a way to fool Twitter into giving a fake blue check mark to a fake account.

On Monday, a data scientist named “Conspirador Norteño” uncovered something odd about six accounts that recently received verified badges from Twitter.

All accounts are created on the same day, June 16th. However, no one has ever tweeted. Another oddity is how the account has the same 1,000 followers, which it looks like as well forged using new accounts created on 19 and 20 June.

Tweet

The findings are a bad picture for Twitter’s verification process, which gives special badges to accounts belonging to celebrities, public figures and businesses as a real sign – and not a scam. Back in May, the company started all over again by offering a blue badge, which anyone can apply for. However, such qualifications are limited to consumers involved in certain fields such as governance, entertainment, journalism and activism.

Twitter confirmed the six accounts were fake, and have turned them off. “We mistakenly approved the verification application of a small number of invalid (fake) accounts,” a company spokesperson told PCMag. “We have now permanently suspended the disputed account, and issued a verified badge, below platform manipulation and basic spam. “

However, the company did not comment on why the fake account got a blue check mark.

Conspirador discovered a fake profile by looking for for “patterns” between Twitter user accounts recently assigning a verified badge to. This can be found by visiting @sahkan account on Twitter, and find out which user profiles are followed.

According to Conspirador, the fake Twitter account appears to belong to a network of bots that have used AI -made photos in user profile photos. “Very few accounts on this network have written tweets. The vast majority of tweet content is spam in Korean sent through a dlvr (dot) automation service that promotes websites,” Conspirado said. plus. Most botnets have since been suspended.