New X rules for joke accounts
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A simple scroll through your X feed can make you wonder, is that really Elon Musk or is it a faker or a parody account trying to be funny or trying to trick you? Well, on April 10th, 2025, X is introducing a new rulebook aimed at stopping this exact confusion.

Starting then, parody, fan, and commentary accounts will have to make their intentions painfully clear. Rules are not just a suggestion. They're a formal directive from Elon himself.

That leaves users with one big question. Will it actually work? Because so far, the line between satire and scammers has never been thinner on X. And that's a problem not just Elon Musk's public image, but for millions of users who rely on X to tell fact from fiction.

Now, the rule change is simple on its face. Any account impersonating someone else must now begin its display name with a term like fake, parody, fan, or commentary. That prefix needs to be visible immediately, not buried at the end of a username where it might be cut off in replies or truncated in feeds. And furthermore, parody accounts can no longer use the same profile image as the person or organization that they mimic.

Now, it's a design meant to ensure that users aren't easily fooled by names or avatars that, at a glance, look very legitimate. Now, the need for the update stems from mounting frustration. Parody accounts pretending to be Elon Musk have ballooned in numbers. Of course, that's why Elon's changing it, because that affects him. And ranging from harmless meme posters of Elon to more malicious actors promoting fake cryptocurrency giveaways or phony contests. In one case,

A Elon Musk parody account with over a million followers posted a fake Tesla giveaway asking users to like and comment for a chance to win. The post received more than 428,000 likes and 200,000 replies.

There was, of course, no car to be won. The deception isn't always obvious, though. Many of these accounts already add parity at the end of their usernames, but in the way X displays names, especially on replies or when screen space is limited, the brackets don't even show up. Combine that with identical profile pictures and it becomes easy to fool even sharp-eyed users. These new rules aim to short-circuit that formula.

Now, this includes all the thousands of fake variations of Elon Musk accounts. And it's about time that Elon Musk's fake accounts get banished. Now, the impersonation issue has gone from occasional prank to constant annoyance, and in some cases, a genuine security risk. Imagine a fake Elon Musk account reaches out to you, pretends to be the real Elon Musk,

and says something to the order of, hey, I'm going to be in town today. I want this to be a secret meeting. Meet me at XYZ Street. We're going to do some business and I need your help with something. You show up at the time, in the place, and there's no Elon to be found, but instead something more nefarious.

That's horrible. Now, according to X, the upcoming changes are being implemented to help users better understand the unaffiliated nature of PCF accounts and reduce the risk of confusion and impersonation. Now, PCF stands for parody, commentary, and fan. This means that even supportive or humorous accounts, once not trying to be malicious or cause harm, are still expected to conform to the updated rules.

Fandom won't be an excuse for being one of these parody accounts and for not limiting it. So the move is more than a policy tweak, though. It's also a course correction. When Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, one of his most controversial decisions was reworking the verification system. The blue checkmark, once a marker of verified identity,

It just became available to anyone willing to pay X for the privilege to have this account, this little checkmark. This opened the floodgates for impersonators to buy legitimacy just for about $10 a month. Musk's original stance was firm. He said any account engaging in impersonation without a clear label would be banned. That promise, however, ran up against the realities of a user base quick to exploit the loopholes. How can they catch all these people? It'd be almost incredible amounts of

hardware and data to catch every single one of these parody accounts. And those loopholes have proven costly. In July 2024, the European Union publicly criticized X's blue check system, calling it potentially misleading. The EU officials argued that the checkmark could deceive users into believing an account is authentic when it's not. And their conclusion, the verification badge under the new system violated online content transparency rules.

Musk dismissed that use warning as misinformation, but the message was clear. What used to be a symbol of trust has become just another paid feature for a huge tech company and a multi-billionaire boss. X has been trying to reverse some of this damage. In January, the platform introduced parody labels applied to both posts and profiles.

The labels are automatic and intended to help users distinguish real content from imitation, but the effectiveness of the labeling system has been debated. Unlike the display name prefix required by the new rules, labels are often missed or ignored by users in fast-scrolling environments. Now, the new naming mandate goes further than labels. It directly changes how parity accounts appear in every interaction. Even when names are shortened or cropped, a prefix like fake or parity will still show at the beginning.

providing immediate context. Now that's an intentional design change and a recognition that X's user interface plays a role in the confusion. Now it's not just celebrities or public figures being personated. Misinformation disguised as parody has real world consequences. Fake corporate announcements can send stock prices swinging, plunging, losing millions of dollars in value and

Bogus political statements can go viral within minutes and people can take action on those statements. A blue checkmark doesn't mean anything. It's just a blue checkmark that anybody can buy. And in a space where text and timing matter more than ever, false content can gain traction before anyone has the chance to verify it. X says it'll start enforcing the rules starting April 10th.

Now, accounts that fail to update to display names and images may face restrictions or removal. The directive applies even to accounts that already display the parody label on their profile bios. The platform is making it clear. A casual nod to parody isn't enough. And for those running parody accounts, the changes mean rebranding. And for fans and commentators, it means redrawing the line between entertainment and impersonation.

Those using profile pics or names too close to the original may not find their accounts at risk, and even if they intend to not deceive, they could lose their accounts. Now, X is trying to reassert control over its public-facing structure. They need the money. They just got absorbed into XAI, and the company has seen stagnation in its premium subscriber base with only about 1.3 million paying users. That's about

0.22% of its claimed 600 million active users. If you can only get 0.22% of your users to pay for a check mark, you're doing something wrong. Now for a platform attempting to boost revenue and sustain credibility, distinguishing real from fake is no longer optional. Now, why does it matter to you? It's because X is still a major digital town square and Elon wants to make it even bigger.

It hosts political debates, breaking news, viral trends, live event commentary. And when impersonation runs unchecked, it weakens the core function of the platform to inform and to connect. A single misleading tweet from a fake account can ripple out.

influencing public opinion or damaging reputations. It also matters on a personal level. Users often rely on X for everything from customer service to crisis updates. If parody accounts mimic brands, individuals, or officials too closely, people could act on false information. Now these new rules aim to put a speed bump in front of that.

Now, Musk's stance has remained mostly unchanged since 2022. He said back then that unlabeled impersonation would lead to bans. These new rules are a continuation of this position. Still, some wonder if a stricter label requirement could coexist with the culture of online parody and ha-ha yuck-yuck jokes that's helped make X entertaining, or if it will simply chase those creators elsewhere.

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