After implementing “Parody Account” labels back in December, X is now moving to make parody profiles even more visible in the app, with updated username requirements for joke accounts.
As explained by X:
“We’re rolling out updates to improve transparency for Parody, Commentary, and Fan (PCF) accounts on our platform. Starting April 10, all PCF accounts will be required to include PCF-compliant keywords at the beginning of their account names and avoid using identical avatars to the entities they depict. These requirements also apply to accounts that have the Parody label.”
So if you wanted to create an Elon Musk parody profile, for example, you’ll no longer be allowed to use the same profile image that Elon does, and you’ll have to add a specific keyword at the start of your account name for clarity.
So what keyword/s do you have to include?
As per X’s expanded guidance, parody accounts will now have to include “parody,” “fake,” “fan,” or “commentary” at the beginning of their account name.
So again, using the Elon example, your account would need to be called “Fake Elon Musk” or “Parody Elon Musk”, and use a totally different avatar image than Elon’s actual profile.
The requirement of adding this to the start of the profile name means that it will still be visible even if the profile name is truncated in the feed display. Because at present, a profile name like “Elon Musk (parody)” will often cut off that last element in feed, causing confusion.
X also notes that these still apply, even if your account already has the “Parody” label:
Which all makes sense, and will ensure greater transparency, and clarity in the app.
But then again, all of this wouldn’t be necessary at all if X had just kept Twitter’s original verification process, and only given blue checkmarks to official, human-verified accounts, which then ensured that impersonators and parody profiles stood out.
For some reason, Elon’s first big brain wave in reforming the platform was to sell checkmarks to all users, because everybody wanted one, and would therefore, at least in Elon’s mind, likely pay up just to have that marker of authority.
But by selling it to anyone, that value is immediately eroded, as it’s no longer a signal of relative authority or importance, it’s just a signal that you’re willing to pay for a free app.
Of course, Twitter’s old verification was also flawed, in that the company had been applying different interpretations of what verification represented in different regions. But it was better than this, with Elon’s X team having to continually reform its systems in order to limit misuse and misinterpretation because of this update.
And also, very few people are paying. X Premium has around 1.3 million subscribers, and that’s even with the lure of advanced access to its Grok AI chatbot and other features. 1.3 million subscribers equates to 0.22% of X’s recently claimed 600 million monthly actives, so only a fraction of X’s user base has felt any compulsion to pay up.
But then again, even 1.3 million subscribers, that’s still a relevant revenue stream for the app. So the situation being what it is, this is likely a necessary improvement.
As X notes, the changes go into effect on April 10th.
