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Mark Ruffalo has asked Elon Musk to change his approach to running Twitter.
On Oct. 27, Musk completed the acquisition of the social media company. Since then, the company has seen upheaval with layoffs and the controversial proposal of a new subscription plan in which users can pay for the “Blue Tick” confirmation badge.
In a series of tweets over the weekend, Ruffalo wrote directly to Musk after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused Twitter of “bricking” her profile after condemning Musk’s plans to introduce a verification payment model.
The Marvel star wrote: “Elon. Please, for the sake of decency, exit Twitter, hand the keys to someone who is doing this as a real job, and get on with Tesla and SpaceX.
“You destroy your credibility. It just doesn’t look good.”
Musk responded to Rufallo, writing, “Not everything AOC says is 100 percent correct.”
Ruffalo replied “maybe,” adding that recent changes at Twitter are making it harder to tell if something is “right” or not.
“That’s why robust disinformation/misinformation filters and credible verified users are a popular feature for people and advertisers alike,” he said. “We need these safeguards to ensure the information is accurate or the app will lose credibility just like you. And people leave.”
According to Musk’s Twitter Blue verification plan, anyone willing to pay $8 (£7) a month can buy a verification badge without having to verify their identity against their account.
Last week, The Gray Man star Rob Kazinsky warned against the move, explaining that someone could be able to impersonate an actor – as he says, which was the case before – to interact with minors via the platform. However, Kazinsky did not provide details on which platform this was connected to.
To highlight the potential problems that would arise from Musk’s plans, a number of celebrities changed their Twitter names to Musk’s.
(Kevin Winters/Getty Images)
On Sunday (November 6), Musk suspended the accounts and issued a statement on Twitter, which read, “Going forward, any Twitter that discusses identity theft without clearly stating ‘parody’ will be permanently banned.”
“We used to issue a warning before suspension, but now that we are introducing widespread review, there will be no warning,” he said. “Any name change will result in a temporary loss of the verified tick.”