new york – Tracking accurate information about the Philadelphia election on Twitter used to be easy. Only the account @phillyvotes of the city committee that runs the election had his mark of authenticity, a blue check.

But since social media platforms Reviewed verification service last month, check mark disappearedThis makes it difficult to distinguish between @phillyvotes and a random list of accounts not run by the Office of Elections but with very similar names.

The election commission applied for the gray checkmark — Twitter’s new symbol to help users identify official government accounts — a few weeks ago, but has yet to hear back from Twitter, a commission spokesperson said. Mann, Nick Custodio said. It is unclear whether @phillyvotes is a qualified government account under Twitter’s new rules.

Custodio said this is troubling because Pennsylvania has a primary election on May 16 and the commission uses its account to share important information with voters in real time. Accounts left unverified make impersonation easier and harder for voters to trust, heading into Election Day.

Impersonating social media accounts is one of them. many concerns Election security experts are gearing up for next year’s presidential election.Experts Warn Foreign Enemies or Others may try to influence electionsthrough online disinformation campaigns, or Hacking election infrastructure.

Election administrators across the country are struggling to figure out how best to respond after Twitter owner Elon Musk disrupted the platform’s verification service. communication with the public.

Others have taken other steps that Twitter allows, such as purchasing checkmarks for profiles or applying for special labels reserved for government agencies, with mixed success. Election and security experts say a discrepancy in Twitter’s new verification system is waiting for a misinformation disaster to unfold.

Rachel Toback, CEO of cybersecurity firm SocialProof Security, said: “It would confuse users, especially on important days like Election Day.”

The blue check mark is what Twitter once offered to prominent celebrities, public figures, government agencies, and journalists. began to disappear from the platform in April. To replace them, Musk told users that as a “verified organization,” anyone could pay $8 a month for individual blue checkmarks and $1,000 a month for gold checkmarks.

A change in policy quickly opened the door for pranksters to convincingly pretend to be celebrities, politicians, government agencies, etc., that could no longer be identified as real. Some impersonation accounts were obvious jokes, while others were confusing.

A fake account impersonating Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the city’s Department of Transportation, and the Illinois Department of Transportation falsely claimed that the city was closing one of its major roads to private traffic. The fake account used the same photo, biography, and homepage link as the real account. Their post amassed hundreds of thousands of views before being deleted.

Twitter’s new policy requires government agencies and certain affiliated organizations to apply to be labeled as official with a gray check. However, at the state and local levels, eligible agencies are limited to “major government agency accounts and major agency accounts that oversee crisis response, public safety, law enforcement, and regulatory matters.” the policy says.

The regulations do not mention the body that conducts the elections. So while the Philadelphia city government’s primary account received a gray checkmark early last month, the local elections commission has not been contacted.

Election offices in four of the five most populous counties in the United States (Cook County in Illinois, Harris County in Texas, Maricopa County in Arizona, and San Diego County in Arizona) remain unconfirmed, according to Twitter. is shown in the search for . Maricopa, including Phoenix, repeatedly targeted by election conspiracy theorists As the most populous and important county in one of the most closely divided counties political battleground states.

Some of the counties contacted by the Associated Press said they had few concerns about impersonation or planned to apply for gray checks later, while others had already applied and said they had received a response from Twitter. No reply.

even a few state election office Waiting for government label. Among them is the office of Maine Secretary of State Shena Bellows.

In an April 24 email to Bellows’ communications director seen by The Associated Press, a Twitter representative said, “There is nothing we can do as we continue to manually process applications from around the world. In a subsequent email, the rep added that Twitter was “ready to implement impersonation practices expeditiously, so please do not hesitate to flag the accounts in question.” .

When I sent an email to a Twitter spokesperson and the company’s safety officer seeking comment, they only responded with an auto-reply of a poop emoji.

“Our job is to build public confidence,” Bellows told AP. “Even small setbacks, such as the inability to verify information on Twitter, contribute to an unpredictable and less secure environment.

Some government accounts, including one representing the second largest county in Pennsylvania, purchased Blue Checks after being told they needed to continue advertising on the platform.

Allegheny County posts election and job ads on Twitter, so the blue check mark was “necessary,” said Amie Downs, the county’s communications director.

Colorado’s Secretary of State Jenna Griswold said anyone can now purchase the certification, and the checkmark loses its meaning if government accounts aren’t labeled consistently.

Griswold’s office received a gray check mark for maintaining trust with voters.

Custodio of the Philadelphia Electoral Commission said his office wouldn’t buy the verification either, even if he was denied a gray check.

“A blue or gold check mark only confirms that you are a paying subscriber, it does not verify your identity,” he said.

Experts and advocates who track election discourse on social media say Twitter’s changes are more than just encouraging bad actors to run. disinformation campaign — It also makes it harder for well-intentioned users to know what is safe to share.

“Twitter fails to verify, giving voters reassurance that the information they are consuming and sharing is legitimate,” said Jill Green, manager of voting and elections at Common Causes in Pennsylvania. It will be a burden,” he said.

This undermines what has long been seen as one of Twitter’s strengths: its ability for community members to come together to provide authoritative information, says Mike Cole, a research scientist at the University of Washington Center for Public Information. Field said.

“The number one rule of a good online community user interface is ‘help the helpers’. It’s the other way around,” Caulfield said. “It takes a community of people willing to spread good information, and deprives them of the tools to make fast and accurate decisions.”

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