A former Eastenders actor has warned Elon Musk of the dangerous impacts removing blue tick status from accounts on Twitter could have.
Rob Kazinsky, who played Sean Slater in the British soap and well-known character Macklyn Warlow in True Blood, took to Twitter to share his thoughts after Musk announced plans to charge verified users €8 a month to retain the mark.
The actor shared his experience during a horrifying situation, which saw people impersonating him to speak to young fans.
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He said: “Years ago, before verified accounts were a thing, back when I was on Eastenders, I was contacted multiple times by parents of children who had been “conversing” with me online. 11-15 year old children that had been talking with a fake me.
“I was informed one of these children went missing.
“I didn’t have social media at the time, I didn’t understand it.
“It’s a horror show, for years people pushed for some way, to root out the fakes. There was a phase, if you remember, of people posting images of themselves with their URL.
“I did that on every site I-Could find, Facebook, myspace, Bebo, anything.
“I felt powerless to stop people using my name and face to scam or groom people.
“That’s why verification came to be. Because it was important to protect people.
“It wasn’t for clout, or for leveraging money from a platform.
“It was to-Protect people from utter scumbags. I think that perhaps, in this age of social media, there are some CEO’s who may have forgotten the importance of protecting people, of having trustworthy sources.
“I don’t tweet much, I am scared of the internet, I struggle with a lot of things in life. But this account exists so that fake accounts can’t.
“If @elonmusk removes that simple ability to protect people, to protect children with verification then this company is dead in the water
“I don’t know if it’s been expressed to him, I doubt he will see this thread. But I hope someone is explaining to @elonmusk the actual dangers to children and the vulnerable and why removing that protection, is an action that will lead directly to a child being endangered.
“Verification is a public service, it is a good deed performed by companies who contribute very little good to the world in my opinion. We should be making easier clearer paths to verification for everyone, not making it harder. It is their responsibility, not a business model.”
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