Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is warning her Twitter followers about a “fake account” impersonating her.
The New York Democrat tweeted on Tuesday (May 30) about “a fake account impersonating me and going viral.”
She noted how Twitter’s CEO, Elon Musk, had “engaged it,” which was “boosting visibility” of the account.
She detailed that the account was “releasing false policy statements and gaining spread,” revealing that she and her team would assess “how to move forward.”
However, she warned her followers to “be careful of what you see.”
The account, which has nearly 100,000 followers, uses the same profile picture as the Congresswoman but makes it clear it’s not the New York Democrat, posting as “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez press release (parody).”
The tweet Ocasio-Cortez references as the one Musk engaged with, posted a tweet joking that “this might be the wine talking, but I’ve got a crush on [Musk],” Musk, who reportedly has his tweets boosted in Twitter’s algorithm, replied with a “fire” emoji.
“I can’t believe people think these parody tweets are from our office when they are clearly fake,” the parody account joked in response to the call out by AOC, stating it “would never say something as stupid as that.”
It then tweeted how the Congresswoman would make parody illegal, tweeting that “After brainstorming” with staff, AOC would “push Congress to make it illegal to joke, laugh, or make fun of me.”
Ocasio-Cortez has frequently criticized Musk and his new Twitter verification policy, which allows more accounts to receive blue checkmarks if they participate in a subscription service.
While the parody account has a blue checkmark, the Congresswoman’s remains gray to distinguish her government account from other verified accounts.
