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In November 2022, one month after businessman Elon Musk completed his acquisition of X (formerly Twitter), he announced new rules to regulate the platform, amid concerns about a high rate of disinformation on the platform.
“Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying ‘parody’ will be permanently suspended. Previously, we issued a warning before the suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning,” he said.
Despite this move, several accounts continue to violate the policy and engage in impersonation, pretending to be prominent figures and misleading unsuspecting users of the social media platform.
When the parody rule took effect in 2022, X dedicated a page under its ‘Rules and Policies’ page dubbed ‘Parody Account Policy.’ This page stated that parody accounts should have ‘parody’ indicated in their usernames and bio.
DAIDAC checked this page on June 19, 2025, and found it no longer existed. DAIDAC subjected the link to a reverse search via the Wayback Machine archive and saw 13 page snapshots from July 15, 2024, to May 13, 2025; however, none of the captures had a record of the page in its active state.
On January 10, 2025, the X Safety page published a public statement to users, stating that they were rolling out profile labels for parody accounts to distinguish these accounts and their content.
“We designed these labels to increase transparency and to ensure that users are not deceived into thinking such accounts belong to the entity being parodied. Parody labels will be applied to both posts and accounts on X to demonstrate the source of the content you’re seeing. We’ll share details soon on when the label will become mandatory for parody accounts,” part of the statement read.
“These accounts, like all accounts on X, must still adhere to the X Rules – particularly our Authenticity policy: https://help.x.com/rules-and-policies/authenticity. If you believe an account is inauthentic or impersonating an entity, you can report the account in-app or via our Help Centre.”
Parody Pages Remain a Problem
Despite X’s policies on including ‘Parody’ in the usernames of parody accounts, the X account @General_Ibbro (archived here) only indicates parody in its short biography.
The page has been active on the platform since October 2013, and often posts comments as though the former military head of state was making them.
When users see the posts on their timelines, the handle appears without a bio. Users can only see the bio when they click the username and arrive on the profile page. For those who don’t, the page looks foolproof.
Due to the absence of a disclaimer in the handle, unsuspecting X users may mistake the account user for the real Babangida. On Oct. 9, 2018, the retired general issued a statement distancing himself from the page and others like it.
The statement released through Zubairu Abdulrauf, his media aide, read, “Our attention has been drawn to the existence of several Twitter handles purportedly owned by the former military president; members of the social media community should know that Babangida currently has no Twitter handle.
“We wish to state that the Twitter handles bearing the name and photographs of Babangida are fake, and also advise the general public to be wary of the fake accounts and discountenance whatever message conveyed therein.”
Despite this, the page made another post (archived here) on Feb. 21, 2025, which read in part, “I want to thank Nigerians for giving me the opportunity to conduct the freest and fairest election in history.”
Our Google Search revealed that the fake page has been fact-checked multiple times here, here, and here.
More Parody Problems
DAIDAC found more examples of parody pages on X with no disclaimer in their profiles or usernames. One such account impersonates Estevão Willian, an 18-year-old football player who plays for Palmeiras, a club in Brazil.
The account @WillianEsteva0 (archived here) was created in July 2022. It posts in English and regularly discusses Chelsea, a club Willian will join ahead of the 2025/2026 football season.
To confirm the authenticity of this page, DAIDAC reviewed the page through its published media and found that its first image post (archived here) of Raheem Sterling, a Chelsea player, was shared on Oct. 17, 2023.
The page had posted several football-related pieces of content for years, and only made its first post (archived here) related to Willian on February 3, 2025. On October 17, 2023, a post (archived here) stated that the page’s handle was @CFC_Delima at the time, which differs from its current username.
DAIDAC scoured the internet for videos of Willian speaking English and found a June 19, 2025, post (archived here) of him. In the video, William and a Palmeiras teammate are taking a walk while speaking Portuguese and attempting to speak English. In the clip, he struggles to greet people in English and exchange pleasantries. He says, “I’m a player soccer,” a wrong expression of “I’m a soccer player. He also says, “I’m good,” in response to a “How old are you?” question.
Meanwhile, the verified official Instagram account linked to this player posts only in Portuguese, unlike the X account, which posts in English.
DAIDAC has previously reported on how to identify parody accounts. However, banks, politicians, high-profile Nigerians, and several other entities continue to be parodied, with minimal checks.
Some usernames are impersonated serially on the microblogging platform X. Chukwuebuka Amuzie, a comedian known popularly as Brainjotter, has seven accounts impersonating him on X.
His Instagram account with over 4.9 million followers has a biography that reads in capital letters, ‘I AM NOT ON TWITTER.’
Brainjotter’s Instagram bio
Despite his denouncement of the fake X accounts, one impersonator fetched him strong words from Ijeoma Otabor, a reality TV star known popularly as Phyna. The account claimed that Phyna was unsuccessful, and in response, Phyna said the comedian was using her name “to chase clout.” However, several X users then explained the mixup to her.
DAIDAC also found nine impersonations of the previously suspended @Lagospedia account.
X suspended the @Lagospedia account in August 2024 after it was discovered to be driving hate speech against Nigerians of Igbo origin. Despite this suspension, several users now use the name with modifications.
Another prominent figure, activist Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as Very Dark Man (VDM), is parodied by several X users. Some users indicate in their profile pages that they are not this person, but others mislead the public.
When DAIDAC searched X for this name (results archived here), we found at least 20 results, but none were the real account.
Accounts impersonating Very Dark Man (VDM).
DAIDAC checked his Wikipedia page to obtain his real X account and found that the account linked to VDM is @thatverydarkman. As of June 27, 2025, it had over 78,200 followers, but was not following anyone.
On one occasion, DUBAWA mistakenly identified a fake VDM X account as the real one and erroneously reported that the activist had published a misleading picture. The outfit later updated the report to reflect the impersonation.
This, and many other instances, highlight the dangers posed by these impersonators.
Accounts that impersonate prominent figures can mislead unsuspecting members of the public and harm the real people. Despite the media’s best efforts to fact-check these accounts, they persist in spreading disinformation.
Although X has between 2022 and 2025 made several public announcements on its policies on parodies and impersonations, and also created an avenue for users to report anyone abusing the process, several users still find ways to get away with it unchecked for years.
The situation also counter’s Musk’s earlier claim that the platform would pull down parodies immediately they are spotted, as despite several fact-check reports exposing the Babangida parody, the page continues to remain active.
Meanwhile, Musk’s free speech mantra is backed by the US’ First Amendment fights, and also Section 39(1) of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution (as Amended) which guarantees freedom of expression as a fundamental right. This right is also guaranteed under the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments. Free speech, however, sometimes has consequences.
“We have seen accounts making parodies of former president Muhammadu Buhari, the police, and other prominent personalities,” observed OSINT journalist and disinformation researcher Kunle Adebajo.
“They post exaggerated content, and users can tell that these are parodies because of the humour attached to them. However, what we see now are accounts that use the guise of parody to mislead people and impersonate famous figures. It is dangerous for parodies not to declare their nature because many people tend to believe claims from those they respect and hold in high esteem. When those accounts tell them to buy an unregulated product or invest in a Ponzi scheme, or engage in one dangerous conduct or the other, they are more likely to believe it because not many people have the skill to confirm the genuineness of accounts,” he added.
Kunle adds that it is now more dangerous, as people can pay for verified badges on X.
“It is not just that one can impersonate someone, but they can get a verification badge. Even when accounts put ‘parody’ in their biographies, not many users would click to see the bio, and they are more susceptible to buying whatever they sell,” Kunle said.
He believes sensitisation is crucial to helping more people avoid the pitfalls these accounts may create.
Like Adebajo, Mayowa Tijani, TheCable’s Director of Projects and former staff member of X, believes the implications are endless. He said parodies’ activities can either cause a war or end one.
“The implications are insane, and as someone who has worked in the space pre-Elon Musk, I have seen these kinds of accounts cause big problems,” he told DAIDAC. “In 2019, when there was a Xenophobia situation between Nigeria and South Africa, certain parody accounts were pretending to be South African lawmakers, saying terrible things about Nigerians, and impersonators of Nigerians saying horrible things about South Africans. All of these escalated the tensions.
“It was the first time Nigerians would take to the streets to attack South African businesses.”
“Similarly, during the 2020 #EndSARS protest, we saw a lot of parody accounts pretending to be Mr Macaroni, Falz, FK Abudu, and others who were actual leaders of the protest. Some unsuspecting users lost money because they donated to accounts provided by these parodies. I remember asking Twitter to verify certain accounts, including FK Abudu, so people know who they are dealing with and not fall for parodies. Implications can be crazy. They can go from starting a war to ending one. This is why Social Media literacy is needed so people know what real accounts are and what impersonators are.”
Tijani argues that it is challenging to regulate parodies on X because Musk’s approach to the platform encourages comedic content and free speech. He says X might flag accounts during verification processes, and users “would have to add ‘parody’ to their usernames if they are seeking verification.”
He also said that more regulations would lead to bad actors learning new ways to bypass them, and a better approach would be for more people to be armed with social media literacy to protect themselves online.
