Elon Musk Says Twitter Will Permanently Suspend ‘Parody’ Accounts, Company Asks Laid Off Workers to Return

Twitter seems to be in disarray ever since Elon Musk took over as CEO late last month.

Musk seems to backtracking after declaring late last month that “comedy is now legal on Twitter.” 

It took less than two weeks, and Musk doesn’t appear to be laughing anymore, as he has now threatened to “permanently suspend” anyone who impersonates another person without identifying themselves as a “parody” account. 

His war on impersonators comes after people have been impersonating him on the platform. Musk recently said Twitter users must pay $7.99 per month for a verification check mark, without detailing how the platform would determine the difference between the actual person and the bad actor. Musk said that if someone with a paid verified account is caught impersonating someone else, their profile will be suspended and their money will be pocketed. 

Comedian Kathy Griffin had her account suspended after she participated in a trend where people changed their handle to “Elon Musk.” 

Food Network chef Valerie Bertinelli also participated in the Twitter handle trend, but eventually reverted back to her actual name.

Meanwhile, after Musk laid off 3,700 employees, slashing the company’s workforce by about half, there seems to be an about-face.

The layoffs were met with a class-action lawsuit which argued that such a move violated the WARN, or federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. The law requires that big companies provide at least a 60-day window before moving forward with sweeping job cuts. 

Bloomberg reports some of those workers who were fired are now being asked to return because their dismissal occurred by mistake.