Although the billionaire entrepreneur declared that “free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy” when he bought Twitter, Elon Musk is moving to ban parody account abuse from the social media platform, which he renamed X.

“We’re rolling out updates to improve transparency for Parody, Commentary, and Fan (PCF) accounts on our platform,” the company said in a post over the weekend. “Starting April 10, all PCF accounts will be required to include PCF-compliant keywords at the beginning of their account names and avoid using identical avatars to the entities they depict. These requirements also apply to accounts that have the Parody label.”

“These changes are designed to help users better understand the unaffiliated nature of PCF  accounts and reduce the risk of confusion or impersonation,” the company said.

In expanded guidance posted by the platform, parody accounts must include “parody,” “fake,” “fan,” or “commentary” at the beginning of their account name. “We allow compliant Parody, Commentary, and Fan (PCF) accounts on X only if the purpose is to discuss, satirize or share information,” the guidance said.

While the platform allows accounts to impersonate others for comedic purposes, some scammers have exploited the exception to impersonate high-profile users, spreading misleading content and orchestrating fraudulent schemes. For instance, there are several Musk parody accounts — like @BoredElonMusk and @ElonMuskAOC, both of which have 1.6 million followers — and some users say they are confused.

One of Mr. Musk’s early decisions when he bought the platform was to eliminate the “verified” badges that previously authenticated accounts, instead allowing users to purchase blue checkmarks. That move made it easier for individuals to change their names and profile pictures to mimic other users, facilitating impersonation.  

The new policy shift has led to incidents where users posed as Mr. Musk himself to promote cryptocurrency scams. A recent post, falsely purporting to be from Mr. Musk — who has nearly 220 million followers — promised users a chance to win a Tesla in exchange for engaging with a comment. The misleading post received more than 400,000 likes and more than 200,000 replies.