X has changed the rules for pretending to be someone else. From this week, an account that uses another person’s or organisation’s name and identity — a parody, a fan account, a commentary account — must put the word “fake” or “parody” at the very start of its display name, and must use a profile picture that is visibly different from the real account’s. A matching photo is no longer acceptable. X says the goal is transparency: a reader should be able to tell at a glance that the account has nothing to do with the person it is imitating.
Why the labels were not enough
In January X introduced a “parody account” label that sat below the name. It did not work, largely because labels are small and names are what people read. The clearest case involved the company’s own owner. Fake Elon Musk accounts have been a constant on the platform, messaging users with investment schemes and giveaways; one parody account with more than a million followers posted a promise to give Teslas to X users, and the post collected about 428,000 likes and more than 200,000 comments before most readers noticed the word “parody” anywhere. The engagement is the point: an impersonation that persuasive is a scam waiting for a payment link.
What the rule does and does not cover
- It applies to accounts that use a real name or brand. A satirical account under an invented name is unaffected.
- The prefix must come first — “Parody Elon Musk” passes, “Elon Musk (parody)” does not.
- The picture rule stops the most convincing trick: the real photo with a tiny disclaimer in the bio nobody opens.
- Enforcement is by report and review, as before. Accounts that ignore the rule risk suspension.
The Bangladesh version
X is a small platform here, but the problem is not. Facebook pages using the names and photos of ministers, cricketers and television presenters — some satirical, most run for reach or for fraud — are a daily feature of the Bangladeshi feed, and Meta’s parody policy still relies on the same bio-disclaimer X has just abandoned. A prefix in the name is a blunt instrument, but it is the only one that survives being screenshotted and reshared, which is how most people in Bangladesh actually encounter a post. It would be a sensible rule for the platform people here really use.
Source: BBC, via Prothom Alo.
