As changes batter Twitter, this government agency has tips to spot impostors

From sports Twitter all the way to government agency Twitter, users are scrambling to adapt to the social media site’s big changes in verification as they sporadically roll out.

Some users have already been impersonated by accounts that paid $7.99 a month for the new Twitter Blue subscription for a blue verification check mark. For others, their account’s “official” designation, rolled out Nov. 9 to verify real accounts before a reversal the same day, may have been the first to go.

That’s what happened with the Twitter profile for the Washington State Emergency Management Division. Officials said the account’s “official” designation was stripped from the profile and speculated the blue check mark might be next on the chopping block.

“Well, that didn’t last long,” department officials wrote on Twitter. “As our ‘official’ designation vanishes and our @Twitter blue check mark is probably next to go, a quick note on best ways to confirm the identity of government Twitter accounts around you.”

The agency urged users to check the web address in government agency’s Twitter bios for the .gov address.

“For us, we connect our Twitter account to our website to provide affirmation we’re actually who we say we are. Mil.wa.gov (The .gov address provides some security that we’re a government website.)”

The link leads to the Washington Military Department’s webpage, which showed the agency’s latest Facebook and Twitter posts.

The agency also recommended checking how old an account is and wrote that the agency’s account was created back in 2009.

“Some government accounts are newer, though,” officials wrote, adding that it’s also a good idea to check if other government accounts are following the account you suspect is the real one.

Google’s search engine optimization (also known as SEO) has safeguards in place, the agency explained.

“So, if you Google the agency’s name + Twitter to fact check the account, it tends to favor the actual non-bot accounts AND the agency website might appear (but not always),” officials wrote.

Some users had questions in the comments, including one about whether the Washington Emergency Management Division and other agencies are looking to use other platforms “since the Twitter exodus.”

“We’re on Facebook and Nextdoor. We’ve had discussion about TikTok and some preliminary approvals for that platform,” officials wrote. “Nothing else at this point.”

One user replied with a nifty hack they said they had just read about in another tweet, explaining that if you click on the blue check mark on the account page, a window pops up explaining whether the account’s verification was paid for via a Twitter Blue subscription, or if it’s verified “because it’s notable in government, news, entertainment, or another designated category.”

Others just joked about the situation.

“This sounds suspiciously like what a fake government emergency management page would want me to do,” one user wrote.

“What about asking the accounts if they’ll show feet. Will that work,” another quipped.

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