Twitter mistakenly verified a fake explicit account posing as Disney.
The blunder, which came days after Twitter’s new policy from boss Elon Musk removed blue and gold ticks from verified accounts, saw an account with the handle @DisneyJuniorUK given a gold verification tick before it was suspended by the firm.
When the account realised it had been assigned a gold tick, it tweeted: “No f****** way.”
Twitter’s press office responded with a poo emoji when Sky News contacted it about the mistake.
Twitter recently removed blue and gold ticks from verified accounts and organisations as part of a controversial new policy from Musk who wants users to pay a subscription service to get their accounts verified.
But some celebrity accounts had their blue ticks reinstated without having to pay, and reports suggest that accounts with a million or more followers had their ticks restored.
Former footballer Gary Neville, tennis player Sir Andy Murray, actor Sir Ian McKellen, and comedian Ricky Gervais were among those who had their ticks reinstated, despite denying that they had paid for them.
Pope Francis, author JK Rowling, footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, US rapper Jay-Z, and Britain’s Conservative and Labour parties were among the accounts impacted by Twitter’s cull, which removed “legacy” verification ticks.
Musk revealed that he was paying for a few famous figures to stay verified, while others appeared to have paid for the subscription themselves.
McKellen tweeted: “Despite the implication when you click the blue badge that has mysteriously reappeared beside my name, I am not paying for the ‘honour’.” Murray posted: “My blue tick has reappeared. For free … some game.”
Gervais joked that the return of his blue tick must be a “gift for all the bath pics over the years”, while Neville rejected claims he had paid a fee, saying: “It did just reappear.”
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