In 2011, I joined Twitter to promote my low-sodium recipe site, The Daily Dish. I chose the handle “DailyDishTweets.” Here’s a screenshot from 2014 from the WayBack Machine:
Late last year I deleted my Twitter account. I’d never cared for the platform and was using it mainly to forward other social media posts (WordPress, Instagram, Facebook). It felt good to be rid of the account, one less thing to think about. So POOF! Deleted. Or so I thought….
This morning I discovered someone (not me) has co-opted my old Twitter account.
The above pic is what my old account used to look like the day I deleted it. But it’s not my account. Sure, that’s my face, my photographs, my name, website, and tagline, but instead of the handle being “DailyDishTweets” it’s “DailyDishTweest.”
It’s all my shit (save the actual tweets and followers) but it’s NOT my account.
Someone is impersonating me on Twitter. I have no idea who it is or why they’re doing it. Scrolling down their tweets and retweets (all attributed to me) I can’t tell if it’s a person, a bot, or what. The tweets – they’re all over the road. No theme, no logic, nothing I would ever post or tweet. So why impersonate me? To get my attention? To draw attention to my website? There’s nothing about low-sodium anything. It’s so odd.
I immediately contacted Twitter to report the impersonation. What else could I do? I sent them a copy of my driver’s license, to prove who I am, and sent 2 additional pics of my website and a cookbook. Within hours I received the following response from Twitter:
So, according to Twitter, an account impersonating me in every way possible (my face, name, website, tagline, and photographs) isn’t actually impersonating me, because they’re not MISLEADING ANYONE? How about me? I mean, I’m pretty fucking confused. According to Twitter Support Article 18366, they aren’t doing anything wrong though. That’s great, Twitter. So great.
So I wrote them back.
Within minutes of sending the above I received a response from Twitter stating my (failed) impersonation case was closed. So I opened a new one. Yep, I refiled a case and am awaiting a new response. Frankly, I just don’t know what else to do. If you have any ideas, please let me know. Apart from writing this post, or rejoining Twitter and being an asshat to FAKE ME, I’m totally at a loss. And I really don’t want to rejoin Twitter. Anyone?
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UPDATE: Last night I got an email from Twitter stating that the account has been SUSPENDED. Proof that tenacity and screaming into the dark can indeed WORK! WOOOT!
Wow. I’m speechless. I’ll noodle it and let you know if anything effective comes to mind. Until then, I’ll “Google” it and see if I can find a precedent setting solution.
Hey babe, thanks SO much but no need– TWITTER SUSPENDED THE ACCOUNT!!!
I got an email last night thanking me for bringing to their attention (um?) and letting me know. I’ll post a screenshot above.
WOOOT!
XO
Quite! Twitter was being a twat! Good on you and your tenacity! Sometimes that’s what it takes. (undortunately) It’s really creepy that somebody was using your likeness. I had a different Twitter account years ago that somebody hacked and posted stuff I’d never say. I deleted the account and I believe/hope it’s gone! (I don’t remember my login or the account name so I can’t really check. Yikes!) Hope all is well otherwise.
Yes! A month after I wrote this post the NYT released a story all about twitter bots – just like this fake account above – set up to “enhance” the followers of celebs and wannabes. They’d pay money to have these fake followers plump up their image, like the twitter equivalent of a pushup bra. So no one was targeting me – it was just a robot using my image bc I was easy prey. SO that’s a relief at least. Sad state of affairs, this world we live in. Anyway, all is well here- hope you’re very well too! Wanted to ask you on a completely unrelated note: Have you ever used BritBox? And if so, were/are you pleased?? I am JONESING for Eastenders (I no longer have a tape train as my VCR broke) and am wondering if it’s worth the $6.99 a month. Any familiarity w the site? XO!
I must confess I’d never heard of Britbox. It does sound like fun. We have Netflix and Amazon and Roku so watch too much of everything already. Let me know if you subscribe and what you think of it.
Hahah I’m w you! We have netflix and amazon prime too – as well as hulu and hbo now!!! our winters are way too long to not be couch potato-ing. Anyway. I want britbox BAD. My husband saw the open tab on my browser yesterday and was like “Oooohhh..” not sure if that was good or bad. It’s the only way I can watch Eastenders at this point and I am so behind in the story line, but I know if I subscribe and binge watch I could be caught up super quick. YES! If I make the plunge I will def let you know what I think. Maybe I should go check it out again now…….
XO