NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Tracking down accurate information about Philadelphia\u2019s elections on Twitter used to be easy. The account for the city commissioners who run elections, @phillyvotes, was the only one carrying a blue check mark, a sign of authenticity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But ever since the social media platform\u00a0overhauled its verification service\u00a0last month, the\u00a0check mark has disappeared. That\u2019s made it harder to distinguish @phillyvotes from a list of random accounts not run by the elections office but with very similar names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The election commission applied weeks ago for a gray check mark \u2014 Twitter\u2019s new symbol to help users identify official government accounts \u2013 but has yet to hear back from the Twitter, commission spokesman Nick Custodio said. It\u2019s unclear whether @phillyvotes is an eligible government account under Twitter\u2019s new rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s troubling, Custodio said, because Pennsylvania has a primary election May 16 and the commission uses its account to share important information with voters in real time. If the account remains unverified, it will be easier to impersonate \u2013 and harder for voters to trust \u2013 heading into Election Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Impostor accounts on social media are among\u00a0many concerns\u00a0election security experts have heading into next year\u2019s presidential election. Experts have warned that foreign adversaries or others\u00a0may try to influence the election, either through online disinformation campaigns or by\u00a0hacking into election infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Election administrators across the country have struggled to figure out the best way to respond after Twitter owner Elon Musk threw the platform\u2019s verification service into disarray, given that Twitter has been among their most effective tools for\u00a0communicating with the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some are taking other steps allowed by Twitter, such as buying check marks for their profiles or applying for a special label reserved for government entities, but success has been mixed. Election and security experts say the inconsistency of Twitter\u2019s new verification system is a misinformation disaster waiting to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe lack of clear, at-a-glance verification on Twitter is a ticking time bomb for disinformation,\u201d said Rachel Tobac, CEO of the cybersecurity company SocialProof Security. \u201cThat will confuse users \u2013 especially on important days like election days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The blue check marks that Twitter once doled out to notable celebrities, public figures, government entities and journalists\u00a0began disappearing from the platform\u00a0in April. To replace them, Musk told users that anyone could pay $8 a month for an individual blue check mark or $1,000 a month for a gold check mark as a \u201cverified organization.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The policy change quickly opened the door for pranksters to pose convincingly as celebrities, politicians and government entities, which could no longer be identified as authentic. While some impostor accounts were clear jokes, others created confusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fake accounts posing as Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the city\u2019s Department of Transportation and the Illinois Department of Transportation falsely claimed the city was closing one of its main thoroughfares to private traffic. The fake accounts used the same photos, biographical text and home page links as the real ones. Their posts amassed hundreds of thousands of views before being taken down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Twitter\u2019s new policy invites government agencies and certain affiliated organizations to apply to be labeled as official with a gray check. But at the state and local level, qualifying agencies are limited to \u201cmain executive office accounts and main agency accounts overseeing crisis response, public safety, law enforcement, and regulatory issues,\u201d\u00a0the policy says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rules do not mention agencies that run elections. So while the main Philadelphia city government account quickly received its gray check mark last month, the local election commission has not heard back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Election offices in four of the country\u2019s five most populous counties \u2014 Cook County in Illinois, Harris County in Texas, Maricopa County in Arizona and San Diego County \u2014 remain unverified, a Twitter search shows. Maricopa, which includes Phoenix, has been\u00a0targeted repeatedly by election conspiracy theorists\u00a0as the most populous and consequential county in one of the most closely divided\u00a0political battleground states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some counties contacted by The Associated Press said they have minimal concerns about impersonation or plan to apply for a gray check later, but others said they already have applied and have not heard back from Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even some\u00a0state election offices\u00a0are waiting for government labels. Among them is the office of Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an April 24 email to Bellows\u2019 communications director reviewed by The Associated Press, a Twitter representative wrote that there was \u201cnothing to do as we continue to manually process applications from around the world.\u201d The representative added in a later email that Twitter stands \u201cready to swiftly enforce any impersonation, so please don\u2019t hesitate to flag any problematic accounts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An email sent to Twitter\u2019s press office and a company safety officer requesting comment was answered only with an auto-reply of a poop emoji.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur job is to reinforce public confidence,\u201d Bellows told the AP. \u201cEven a minor setback, like no longer being able to ensure that our information on Twitter is verified, contributes to an environment that is less predictable and less safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some government accounts, including the one representing Pennsylvania\u2019s second-largest county, have purchased blue checks because they were told it was required to continue advertising on the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allegheny County posts ads for elections and jobs on Twitter, so the blue check mark \u201cwas necessary,\u201d said Amie Downs, the county\u2019s communications director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When anyone can buy verification and when government accounts are not consistently labeled, the check mark loses its meaning, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Griswold\u2019s office received a gray check mark to maintain trust with voters, but she told the AP she would not buy verification for her personal Twitter account because \u201cit doesn\u2019t carry the same weight\u201d it once did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Custodio, at the Philadelphia elections commission, said his office would not buy verification either, even if it gets denied a gray check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe blue or gold check mark just verifies you as a paid subscriber and does not verify identity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Experts and advocates tracking election discourse on social media say Twitter\u2019s changes do not just incentivize bad actors to run\u00a0disinformation campaigns\u00a0\u2014 they also make it harder for well-meaning users to know what\u2019s safe to share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBecause Twitter is dropping the ball on verification, the burden will fall on voters to double check that the information they are consuming and sharing is legitimate,\u201d said Jill Greene, voting and elections manager for Common Cause Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That dampens an aspect of Twitter that until now had been seen as one of its strengths \u2013 allowing community members to rally together to elevate authoritative information, said Mike Caulfield, a research scientist at the University of Washington\u2019s Center for an Informed Public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe first rule of a good online community user interface is to \u2019help the helpers.\u2032 This is the opposite of that,\u201d Caulfield said. \u201cIt takes a community of people who want to help boost good information, and robs them of the tools to make fast, accurate decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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