According to reports, con artists are using X accounts to pose as well-known British airlines; as a result, consumer brand advocate "Which?" has requested that X remove the accounts right now.
According to consumer advocate "Which?", every major airline in the UK has fake profiles on X, formerly known as Twitter, which are regularly used to trick consumers into providing personal information. It was also mentioned that X takes too long to remove problematic accounts.
Customers are frequently requested to give sensitive personal information by scammers, or they are led to phishing websites where credit card information can be obtained.
Some con artists may assert that their victims are entitled to reimbursement or demand a minor payment to fix the problem.
"Which?" declared that it had discovered fake X accounts posing as all of the major UK airlines, including easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, and Wizz Air.
The majority of the fraudulent postings and accounts it identified were still active at the time of writing, and it claimed that reporting phony accounts to X appeared to have little impact.
According to the social networking site's "misleading and deceptive identities policy," accounts that mimic businesses risk having their access permanently blocked.
Prior to this, it had told "Which?" that it had eliminated every single fake account that the consumer advocacy organization had discovered. It claimed that con artists search social media for these kinds of encounters by frequently employing bots, a kind of automated software.
Read Also: TikTok Fails 'Disinformation Test,' Approves Misleading Election Ads Ahead of EU Vote, Study Shows
EU Probe on X
Criticisms surrounding social media platform X only continue to increase as X has reportedly been under EU investigation since December on concerns about civic discourse disinformation and the social platform's crowdsourced 'Community Notes' content moderation tool. However, no punishments have been issued
In addition, the EU has recently requested that X provide an explanation for the decrease in content moderation resources, citing worries about misinformation in front of the June European elections. Comparably, out of concerns that Meta is not doing enough to prevent misinformation, the EU has opened an investigation against the company's Facebook and Instagram accounts.
Disinformation "Superspreaders" on X
A recent study, which was also reported on May 27, found that the bulk of fake news on the social media platform X is disseminated by a select few accounts. A group of Indiana University social media analysts conducted the study, which highlights the startlingly significant role that "superspreaders" play in spreading false information online.
Since disinformation has serious ramifications for society, the researchers concentrated on its dissemination. False information poses a threat to public health and erodes confidence in democratic systems.
Among the most notable examples are the fraudulent assertions on the US presidential election of 2020, which fueled the Capitol riot on January 6, and the misinformation regarding COVID-19, which led to misunderstandings over vaccinations and preventative measures.
Related Article: Experts Weigh in After Musk's X Allows Adult Content Posts
(Photo : Tech Times)
