Ocasio-Cortez May Delete Her Social Media After Bogus Report

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez vowed to cease using Twitter after Elon Musk boosted a parody account of her.

New York’s Democrat representative tweeted on Tuesday that there was a bogus account on Twitter mimicking her and going viral. She claimed Musk, the owner of Twitter, had taken an interest and given it more exposure. (AOC, herself, gave it the most exposure.)

She indicated that it was releasing false policy statements and spreading misinfo, and she was evaluating the following steps to take with her staff. 

Ocasio-Cortez and Musk have engaged in some public Twitter spats as of late.

A bogus tweet from the account said, “This might be the wine talking, but I’ve got a crush on Elon Musk.”  According to Twitter’s statistics, the message has been seen over 26 million times and has received over 60,000 hearts.

Musk replied to the message with a flames emoji, prompting her to respond to the phony account on Tuesday.

The name of the parody account is ” @AOCPress (parody.” 

The accounts can remain as long as people distinguish in their names and bio that they are a parody of famous people.

A gray checkmark denotes the genuine congresswoman’s account as an official in government.

In May, the previously suspended AOC parody account reappeared on Twitter, and Musk quickly began engaging with it and increasing its followers.

But after the actual Ocasio-Cortez tweeted about it, the account gained widespread attention on Tuesday. 

Even though Musk’s paid verification method robbed legacy verified users of their blue check marks, this account is tricking some of those who read its tweets. Some commenters seem to believe the tweets came from the real Ocasio-Cortez, while others quickly point out that it’s a spoof account. 

The parody account was created in November 2018; however, it was permanently suspended in November 2019 by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey for posting “misleading” information. Restored after Musk’s 2022 takeover, some of the company’s new regulations seem to have amplified the account.

Michael Morrison, whose Twitter profile lists him as a member of the New York Young Republicans Club, is credited with founding the @AOCPress account.