Critics accuse Elon Musk of intentionally legitimizing fake AOC account

A fake account impersonating Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and releasing false policy statement has paid to be verified by Twitter – and the social media's CEO has been engaging with it, the congresswoman said Tuesday.

In the past, Twitter would shut down impersonation accounts that didn't indicate that they were a parody.

The account has shared messages including that its operator has a crush on Twitter CEO Elon Musk – who replied which ultimately brought more attention to it, Ocasio-Cortez said.

"FYI there’s a fake account on here impersonating me and going viral," said the congresswoman on Twitter. "The Twitter CEO has engaged it, boosting visibility. It is releasing false policy statements and gaining spread. I am assessing with my team how to move forward. In the meantime, be careful of what you see."

Noah Dahl, who highlights extremism and white supremacy, said the incident makes things awkward for the CEO.

"Either [he] replied unaware that the account was fake, making him easily duped by disinformation, or he replied knowingly, making him a deliberate spreader of disinformation. No good takeaways here," said Dahl.

After complaints, the account added (parody) to its name, which allows it to continue to operate under Twitter's terms of service. But the (parody) isn't actually visible until users click into the account because the name is so long.

That's likely the reason that Republican Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) couldn't tell the difference between the accounts, interacting with it using his once-hidden account.

The account appears to be using tweets from the actual AOC account and rewording them slightly, creating confusion. It is one of the main problems that tech experts predicted with Musk's new buy-and-verify process – if someone can only be verified via purchase, then anyone could be "verified" with a purchase.

Reporter Aaron Rupar called it "disgusting even for Elon (in case it's not clear, the 'verified' account is not actually AOC)."

And SiriusXMProgress radio host Dean Obeidallah said, "Elon Musk is a cancer on American democracy."

Some Republicans are using the ordeal to mock AOC, saying she can't take a joke.