Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is warning her followers about a Twitter account she says is pretending to be her.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez wrote, “FYI there’s a fake account on here impersonating me and going viral. 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,” she added.
FYI there’s a fake account on here impersonating me and going viral. The Twitter CEO has engaged it, boosting visibility.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 30, 2023
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.
Her tweet appeared to be in reference to an account that has the same profile picture as her, and has a blue check mark to signal it is verified.
But it is a parody account.
The username is “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Press Release (parody).”
The account has tweeted out several fake policy positions mocking Ocasio-Cortez, such as, “Printing money is the only way out of inflation.”
https://twitter.com/AOCpress/status/1662948135247794178
In another tweet, the message was, “An AR-15 can shoot over 10,000 rounds per second and hold up to 1,000 round clips. It’s time to ban these weapons of war – except for in Ukraine.”
https://twitter.com/AOCpress/status/1663585321441689627
And on Sunday, another message was, “This might be the wine talking, but I’ve got a crush on [Elon Musk].”
Twitter owner Musk responded with a fire emoji.
🔥
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 29, 2023
Ocasio-Cortez was roasted for her comments about a fake account.
Check out some of the reactions below:
learn to read. pic.twitter.com/l7cu2vbMQ5
— Freckled Liberty 🔥 (@FreckledLiberty) May 30, 2023
thanks, just followed @AOCpress pic.twitter.com/JtmR1WOY2Z
— Siraj Hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) May 30, 2023
The parody account is smarter than your real account. 👍
— Bradley Scott 🙏🇺🇸 (@Hoosiers1986) May 30, 2023
The account has parody in it – deal with it
— Brendon Leslie (@BrendonLeslie) May 30, 2023
It’s clearly marked as a parody.
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) May 30, 2023
I find it concerning that your actual Tweets and positions are so close to parody that it’s sometimes indistinguishable from reality. pic.twitter.com/ZI5DPxLpfJ
The account is clearly marked as a parody, not to mention as a govt. official you have a silver badge, they have a blue one … they are abiding by Twitter's rules.
— The🐰FOO (@PolitiBunny) May 30, 2023
As for moving forward, you and your team got nothin'. https://t.co/zhtjCihnnL
How can we possibly distinguish the two? https://t.co/82HywMlL15 pic.twitter.com/IvyWqZcjqs
— The First (@TheFirstonTV) May 30, 2023
Clearly satirical accounts are protected by the First Amendment and Twitter’s TOS. What you should do about it is grow a sense of humor. https://t.co/SCwcI0OJEy
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) May 30, 2023
The parody account also responded, writing, “FYI … I have no problem with parody accounts – just the ones that make fun of me.”
https://twitter.com/AOCpress/status/1663615640563855360
Twitter’s policy on parody accounts states, “To avoid confusing others about an account’s affiliation, Parody, Commentary, and Fan accounts must distinguish themselves in their account name and in their bio. Accounts that fail to sufficiently distinguish themselves are considered non-compliant and in violation of this policy.”
The parody account has “parody” in its bio as well as its account name.