Twitter and Social Media Identity Theft
Social media identity theft is becoming a bigger and bigger problem.
Several high-profile celebrities have been in the news regarding fake Twitter accounts and some have gone to court over the issue. A few of the more popular cases involved:
- Tony LaRussa, baseball manager, who filed a lawsuit against Twitter, alleging an unauthorized and defamatory page in his name.
UPDATE: Later, on the day this post was published, Twitter co-founder Evan Stone responded to LaRussa’s lawsuit and detailed Twitter’s plans to combat false accounts, which include a “Verified Accounts” feature. Read Stone’s blog post. - Kanye West, Grammy-winning hip hop rapper/producer, who famously flamed Twitter on his blog over a fake account.
- Shaquille O’Neal, NBA superstar, who one-upped a Twitter Shaq impersonator by setting up his own Twitter account. Game over.
As an Internet marketer, your ability to be effective in your marketing is directly related to
(a) creating a name for yourself and/or your brand online and
(b) establishing the credibility of your name and brand.
If someone is abusing your name on social media sites or pretending to be you, that can have a negative affect your image and can adversely impact your business.
