Fake Gaming "Blue Tick" Accounts Are Making Twitter Even More Chaotic

A verified Twitter account used to be proof that your identity was genuine, but since Elon Musk purchased the social media platform, things have changed for the worse. Anyone with $8 to spare can unlock the desirable blue tick icon next to their account name, which has led to a series of fake verified accounts popping up online.

One such example is a user who dressed up their profile to look like the official Nintendo account and then decided to post family-unfriendly content (Mario giving the middle finger) and fake announcements of a new Super Mario Galaxy game being announced for Switch.

Another account claiming to be Valve Software began stirring the pot by tweeting about a new "competitive" platform, which convinced a number of people into thinking that an account with a subtle rearrangement of letters in its online handle and a blue tick next to its name was the real deal. That account has been suspended (per Twitter's new rules for impersonation), but Kotaku has an image of its fake announcement saved on its page.

Twitter hasn't just seen numerous accounts linked to gaming industry brands and companies pop up either, as the sports fans had to deal with a brand-new Twitter account that paid for a checkmark badge just so that it could parody the tweets of ESPN analyst Adam Schefter. This eventually led to the impostor account tweeting that Las Vegas Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels had been fired. The only way to be confident that the account you're following is the real deal is to perform a few extra clicks.

By going to the account's profile and clicking on its blue tick, you'll either see text confirming that the owner paid an $8 fee for a month of verification or that they're the legitimate article when the text reads "this account is verified because it's notable in government, news, entertainment..." according to Twitter.

Among Us community director Victoria Tran and game programmer Tyler Glaiel made the following handy guides to help people understand how to spot a sus account.

Twitter did briefly roll out an "Official" verification label this week, which added a gray version of the blue checkmark, but it was only live for a few hours before the rollout was canceled.