Twitter apologizes for verifying spoof account

Microblogging site Twitter apologized late Tuesday (Manila time) for "mistakenly" verifying what turned out to be a spoof account of media mogul Rupert Murdoch's wife Wendi Deng.

 

In a post on its own account, Twitter said the @wendi_deng account was "mistakenly verified" for a short time.

 

"We can confirm that the @wendi_deng account was mistakenly verified for a short period of time and apologize for the confusion this caused," it said.

 

As of 10 a.m. Wednesday (Manila time), the account was still active, this time with the description, "SPOOF ACCOUNT."

 

The account had 133 tweets and 9,486 followers and was following 52 accounts by 10 a.m. Wednesday.

 

"I'm sorry if some of you feel misled by this Twitter account, but I never said it was entirely genuine. I never said it was a spoof either," its holder —whose real identity has not been revealed— said.

 

A separate story on UK's The Guardian said the account briefly had a verified "tick" badge from Twitter.

 

It said a News International spokeswoman in London confirmed on Tuesday that the @Wendi_Deng Twitter account was fake, although the @rupertmurdoch account is genuine.

 

Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, joined Twitter on December 31, with the fake Deng account launching the following day.

 

The Guardian report said the holder of the fake account chatted with celebrities including Kim Kardashian.

 

It said a News International spokeswoman even said on Monday the @Wendi_Deng was genuine, but said Tuesday News International had now established the account was fake.

 

Just 'for fun'

 

The handler of the account told The Guardian "he" was a British man living in London and had just set up the account for fun.

 

"I set up the account as a laugh, simple as that, when I was bored over the new year holiday and saw all the hype surrounding Rupert Murdoch joining Twitter," the account holder said.

 

The account holder added that "he" was shocked and nervous.

 

"When Twitter verified it, I was completely and utterly shocked. A little nervous too, if I'm honest, about what had happened and whether it had all gone too far. I just couldn't believe they would have verified such a high profile account without checking it out, but I absolutely received no communication from Twitter to the email address I used to register," he said.

 

"If that's their security process for high profile users, then I do think they need to rethink it urgently. On their help pages they say, interestingly, that the "verified account" system is no longer in operation, and yet here it was being used for Rupert Murdoch and his wife without, in my/Wendi's case, any checking whatsoever," he added.

 

He also noticed tweets saying his account was an attempt to test Twitter's security or make a fool of News International.

 

"It wasn't, and I didn't dream that any of that would happen. As for the people saying that I should be ashamed for setting up a spoof account and leading people on – have they seen how many spoof accounts are out there? They're far from all admitting they're spoofs, either. In comparison, mine was comparatively mild and merely slightly jokey," he said. — TJD, GMA News