Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat representing New York in Congress, is upset that a parody account with more than 100,000 followers has been making fun of her.
On Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted about the popular parody account and vowed to take action.
When Elon Musk promoted the fake account, AOC pledged to quit using Twitter.
On Tuesday, New York’s Democratic congresswoman complained about a fake Twitter account imitating her and gaining traction. She said that Twitter CEO Elon Musk exacerbated it by promoting the account. (Not so blissfully unaware, AOC fails to see that she caused the Streisand Effect. That is when attempts to stifle information only bring more attention to it. It’s named for Barbra Streisand, who sought to remove a photo of her house taken by the California Coastal Records Project, only to have it go viral on the internet.)
AOC said she was discussing further actions with her team, implying she would sue the parody account or perhaps try to have them arrested.
The fake user’s most popular tweet was one that involved Elon Musk. It said, “This might be the wine talking, but I’ve got a crush on Elon Musk.” Twitter reports that the post has been liked more than 60,000 times and seen by over 26 million people.
Musk’s flaming emoji response prompted AOC to engage the fake account on Tuesday, giving it more energy.
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey permanently banned the parody account a year after it was launched in November 2019 for spreading “misleading” content. Some of the company’s new rules appear to have exacerbated the account once it was restored following Musk’s 2022 takeover.
Per Twitter, as long as it is clear from the account’s name and bio that it is a parody of a real person, the account can stay up. The real congresswoman’s profile has been verified and is indicated with a gray checkmark.
The @AOCPress account was created by Michael Morrison, whose Twitter bio states that he is a member of the New York Young Republicans Club.
