{"id":23426,"date":"2025-07-02T11:58:57","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T10:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/?p=23426"},"modified":"2025-07-02T11:58:59","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T10:58:59","slug":"despite-xs-policies-parody-accounts-continue-to-spread-disinformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/despite-xs-policies-parody-accounts-continue-to-spread-disinformation\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite X\u2019s policies, parody accounts continue to spread disinformation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In November 2022, one month after businessman Elon Musk completed his acquisition<\/strong><\/a> of X (formerly Twitter), he announced<\/strong><\/a> new rules to regulate the platform, amid concerns about a high rate of disinformation on the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGoing forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying \u2018parody\u2019 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the parody rule took effect in 2022, X dedicated a page<\/strong><\/a> under its \u2018Rules and Policies\u2019 page dubbed \u2018Parody Account Policy.\u2019 This page stated that parody accounts should have<\/strong><\/a> \u2018parody\u2019 indicated in their usernames and bio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DAIDAC checked this page on June 19, 2025, and found it no longer existed. DAIDAC subjected the link to a reverse search<\/strong><\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On January 10, 2025, the X Safety page published a public<\/strong> statement<\/strong><\/a> to users, stating that they were rolling out profile labels for parody accounts to distinguish these accounts and their content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe 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\u2019re seeing. We\u2019ll share details soon on when the label will become mandatory for parody accounts,\u201d part of the statement read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Parody account tag on X account @CFC_Carneyy, according to X\u2019s new policy<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Parody Pages Remain a Problem<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Despite X\u2019s policies on including \u2018Parody\u2019 in the usernames of parody accounts, the X  account @General_Ibbro<\/strong><\/a> (archived here<\/strong><\/a>) only indicates parody in its short biography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t, the page looks foolproof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/strong><\/a> distancing himself from the page and others like it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statement released through Zubairu Abdulrauf, his media aide, read, \u201cOur 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this, the page made another post<\/strong><\/a> (archived here<\/strong><\/a>) on Feb. 21, 2025, which read in part, \u201cI want to thank Nigerians for giving me the opportunity to conduct the freest and fairest election in history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Google Search revealed that the fake page has been fact-checked multiple times <\/strong>here<\/strong><\/a>, here<\/strong><\/a>, and here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Screenshot of X parody account of RTD. General Ibrahim Babangida<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

More Parody Problems<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

DAIDAC found more examples of parody pages on X with no disclaimer in their profiles or usernames. One such account impersonates Estev\u00e3o Willian, an 18-year-old football player who plays for Palmeiras, a club in Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The account @WillianEsteva0<\/strong><\/a> (archived here<\/strong><\/a>) 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To confirm the authenticity of this page, DAIDAC reviewed the page through its published media and found that its first image post<\/strong><\/a> (archived here<\/strong><\/a>) of Raheem Sterling, a Chelsea player, was shared on Oct. 17, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The page had posted several football-related pieces of content for years, and only made its first post<\/strong><\/a> (archived here<\/strong><\/a>) related to Willian on February 3, 2025. On October 17, 2023, a post<\/strong><\/a> (archived here<\/strong><\/a>) stated that the page’s handle was @CFC_Delima at the time, which differs from its current username.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A screenshot of the post indicates a different username in 2023.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

DAIDAC scoured the internet for videos of Willian speaking English and found a June 19, 2025, post<\/strong><\/a> (archived here<\/strong><\/a>) 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, \u201cI\u2019m a player soccer,\u201d a wrong expression of \u201cI\u2019m a soccer player. He also says, \u201cI\u2019m good,\u201d in response to a \u201cHow old are you?\u201d question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the verified official Instagram account<\/strong><\/a> linked to this player posts only in Portuguese, unlike the X account, which posts in English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Parody X account of Brazilian footballer Estevao Willian<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

DAIDAC has previously reported<\/strong><\/a> on how to identify parody accounts. However, banks, politicians, high-profile Nigerians, and several other entities continue to be parodied, with minimal checks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His Instagram account<\/strong><\/a> with over 4.9 million followers has a biography that reads in capital letters, \u2018I AM NOT ON TWITTER.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Brainjotter\u2019s Instagram bio<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Accounts impersonating Brainjotter on X.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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<\/strong><\/a> that Phyna was unsuccessful, and in response, Phyna said the comedian was using her name \u201cto chase clout.\u201d  However, several X users then explained the mixup to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DAIDAC also found nine impersonations of the previously suspended @Lagospedia account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X suspended<\/strong><\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lagospedia impersonators.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When DAIDAC searched<\/strong><\/a> X for this name (results archived here<\/strong><\/a>), we found at least 20 results, but none were the real account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accounts impersonating Very Dark Man (VDM).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DAIDAC checked his Wikipedia page<\/strong><\/a> to obtain his real X account and found that the account linked to VDM is @thatverydarkman<\/strong><\/a>. As of June 27, 2025, it had over 78,200 followers, but was not following anyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On one occasion, DUBAWA mistakenly identified a fake VDM X account as the real one and erroneously reported<\/strong><\/a> that the activist had published a misleading picture. The outfit later updated<\/strong><\/a> the report to reflect the impersonation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This, and many other instances, highlight the dangers posed by these impersonators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accounts that impersonate prominent figures can mislead unsuspecting members of the public and harm the real people. Despite the media\u2019s best efforts to fact-check these accounts, they persist in spreading disinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/strong><\/a> anyone abusing the process, several users still find ways to get away with it unchecked for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The situation also counter\u2019s Musk\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Musk\u2019s free speech mantra is backed by the US\u2019 First Amendment fights, and also Section 39(1) of Nigeria\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have seen accounts making parodies of former president Muhammadu Buhari, the police, and other prominent personalities,\u201d observed OSINT journalist and disinformation researcher Kunle Adebajo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey 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,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kunle adds that it is now more dangerous, as people can pay for verified badges on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is not just that one can impersonate someone, but they can get a verification badge. Even when accounts put \u2018parody\u2019 in their biographies, not many users would click to see the bio, and they are more susceptible to buying whatever they sell,\u201d Kunle said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He believes sensitisation is crucial to helping more people avoid the pitfalls these accounts may create.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Adebajo, Mayowa Tijani, TheCable\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d he told DAIDAC. \u201cIn 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was the first time Nigerians would take to the streets to attack South African businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSimilarly, 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tijani argues that it is challenging to regulate parodies on X because Musk\u2019s approach to the platform encourages comedic content and free speech. He says X might flag accounts during verification processes, and users \u201cwould have to add \u2018parody\u2019 to their usernames if they are seeking verification.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. \u201cGoing forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying \u2018parody\u2019 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,\u201d 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 \u2018Rules and Policies\u2019 page dubbed \u2018Parody Account Policy.\u2019 This page stated that parody accounts should have \u2018parody\u2019 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. \u201cWe 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\u2019re seeing. We\u2019ll share details soon on when the label will become mandatory for parody accounts,\u201d part of the statement read. \u201cThese 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.\u201d Parody Pages Remain a Problem Despite X\u2019s policies on including \u2018Parody\u2019 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\u2019t, 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, \u201cOur 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. \u201cWe 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.\u201d Despite this, the page made another post (archived here) on Feb. 21, 2025, which read in part, \u201cI want to thank Nigerians for giving me the opportunity to conduct the freest and fairest election in history.\u201d 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 Estev\u00e3o 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, \u201cI\u2019m a player soccer,\u201d a wrong expression of \u201cI\u2019m a soccer player. He also says, \u201cI\u2019m good,\u201d in response to a \u201cHow old are you?\u201d 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, \u2018I AM NOT ON TWITTER.\u2019 Brainjotter\u2019s 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 \u201cto chase clout.\u201d  However, several X users then explained the mixup to her. DAIDAC also found nine impersonations of the previously<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"hannibal_claim_source":"","hannibal_source_label":"","hannibal_card_color":"blue","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[210,1571,3812,3815,123],"tags":[],"verdict":[],"ppma_author":[4470],"class_list":["post-23426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","category-fact-check","category-headline","category-homepage","category-mainstream"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8R6dE-65Q","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":4470,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"daniel-ojukwu-1","display_name":"Daniel Ojukwu","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Caricature.jpg?fit=1280%2C853&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23426"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23428,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23426\/revisions\/23428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23426"},{"taxonomy":"verdict","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/verdict?post=23426"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=23426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}