The BBC and Twitter moved quickly yesterday to remove a fake account impersonating the corporation’s Breaking News Twitter page, but not before it had managed to spread an untrue story about the health of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The fake post was picked up by a prominent TV channel in Pakistan, which is aired for a short while as a news flash. It subsequently aired an apology after realizing its error.
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It is extremely difficult for companies to keep control of impersonation accounts that can crop up, especially at a time like this. However, more can be done on the user’s end, and I would advise Twitter users to research the origin of a tweet and verify the account before interreacting with it. It is now more important than ever to not share posts that aren’t verified to reduce the spread of fake news. It is paramount to try to lower the spread of misinformation and therefore try to only share verified “blue ticked” account posts on Twitter.
Some fake accounts may even have lots of followers but bot farms are sometimes used to add fake followers. Although breaching guidelines, they can sometimes appear to have hundreds or even thousands of followers before the account is suspended so make sure you check before you share.