BROADCASTER AND FORMER politician Ivan Yates has confirmed that an account purporting to be him on X\/formerly Twitter is a fake.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The account (@IvanYatesNT) was set up this month and has posted a series of tweets claiming to be the broadcaster.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The fake account also appears at the top of the Google search results when Yates\u2019 name is searched, appearing under the text: \u201cLatest posts from Ivan Yates\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yates confirmed to The Journal today that it is a \u201ccomplete fake\u201d and said he has \u201cno involvement at all\u201d with it.<\/p>\n
X\/Twitter overhauled its verification process for accounts after it was purchased by billionaire Elon Musk in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Previously, a blue tick badge next to a user\u2019s name verified that the account was who or what it claimed to be.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This was changed under Musk and replaced with a system whereby users can pay for a tick beside their name.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In December 2025, X was fined \u20ac120m over its blue tick badge policy, with the European Commission stating that it breached the Digital Services Act.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It said the platform \u201cdeceives users\u201d because it is not \u201cmeaningfully verifying\u201d who is behind accounts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis deception exposes users to scams, including impersonation frauds, as well as other forms of manipulation by malicious actors,\u201d the Commission said.<\/p>\n
In response to that decision, X said it had stopped referring to blue tick users as \u201cverified\u201d and now calls them \u201cPremium\u201d users.<\/p>\n