X further refers to clamping the by launching a label for parody accounts to help them stand out from the real deal. Users will now start seeing the label on posts as well as profile pages.

The company says the purpose of the label is to promote transparency, but there’s a fatal flaw in how X goes about that. As it stands, the label is not yet mandatory. And so notes, operators of parody accounts must manually enable it (by going to the “your account” section in settings, then to “account information” and enabling the “Parody” option , comments and fan accounts”).

“We launched profile labels for parody accounts to clearly identify these types of accounts and their content on our platform. We designed these labels to increase transparency and to ensure that users are not will be fooled into thinking that those accounts belong to the entity being parodied”, X wrote . “Parody labels will be applied to X posts and accounts to clearly indicate the source of the content you see. We will share details soon on when the label will become mandatory for parody accounts.”

The company added that parody accounts still have to follow the platform’s rules, including those related to authenticity. “The Parody, Fan, and Commentary (PCF) labels are chosen by X people to indicate that the account portrays another person, group, or organization on their profile to discuss, satirize, or share information about that entity. ,” reads the description on the label. . “This label differentiates these accounts to ensure that they do not cause confusion to others or misrepresent any affiliation.”

Since X does not apply the label to the accounts themselves (seemingly relying on the community to flag impersonators rather than taking a more active moderating approach) and the fact that it is not yet mandatory, no can meaningfully target the replication problem.

Scammers who pretend to be, say, the owner of X Elon Musk in an attempt to squeeze some bitcoins from other users do not really want to put the label on their accounts. And those who just don’t care about getting their account banned by impersonating a legitimate news outlet, brand or offer to spread false information can’t either. It’s almost as if the whole concept of reliability in the X has been done since the company allows anyone to purchase a blue check mark for their profile.