No, that wasn’t actually Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez you saw tweeting about having a crush on Twitter chief Elon Musk.
An account impersonating the New York Democrat cropped up over the weekend, going viral and catching the attention of both Musk and Ocasio-Cortez.
“FYI there’s a fake account on here impersonating me and going viral. The Twitter CEO has engaged it, boosting visibility,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Tuesday. “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.”
Musk had previously responded to the tweet from the fake account claiming to have a crush on him with a fire emoji.
As of Tuesday evening, the fake account had racked up more than 130,000 followers.
The account, showing the name “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Press Release (parody),” was “verified” with a blue check. The verification system used to be a form of authentication for Twitter accounts — in part, a way to prevent users from confusing the accounts of government officials or famous users with fakes. Under Musk, the site switched to a pay-to-verify system, allowing any user to subscribe and have a blue check attached to their profile.
Ocasio-Cortez’s real account has a gray check, the type of verification now attached to government officials.
