- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized Twitter's plans to scrap legacy blue checkmarks.
- Elon Musk's company announced it was revoking legacy verified checkmarks from April 1.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hit out at Elon Musk's Twitter over its plans to revoke the legacy blue verified checkmarks on April 1.
Twitter announced on Thursday it plans to soon sunset a legacy verified feature that gave users blue checkmarks next to their name. The company said users can sign up to its Twitter Blue subscription program that costs $8 a month to keep their checkmarks.
"Last time they tried this someone pretended to be Eli Lilly and tanked their stock price by pretending insulin was free," AOC tweeted.
In a separate tweet, she said: "And they're rolling this out on April Fool's day."
AOC was referring to the time in November when two Twitter accounts pretended to be insulin-producing pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly. Both accounts paid for Twitter's verification feature, which gave them the blue tick, making them look like Eli Lilly's official account.
One account tweeted that insulin would be free, while the other claimed the price of Humalog, a diabetes drug, would rise to $400. Eli Lilly's stock fell more than 4% in response, according to Forbes.
The company told Insider at the time it was "in conversations with Twitter."
The pharmaceutical giant wasn't the only business to be trolled by other Twitter accounts. McDonald's, Nintendo, Tesla, and BP were among the firms to be impersonated by fake accounts.
Some Twitter users also pretended to be historical figures, celebrities, and politicians, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and O.J. Simpson.
This isn't the first time AOC, who has a gray checkmark because she's a government figure, has hit out at Musk and Twitter over its verification system.
"Lmao at a billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that "free speech" is actually a $8/mo subscription plan," she tweeted. This led to a Twitter spat between the two, with Musk telling her to "pay $8" and AOC calling him a "union buster with an ego problem."
Following the argument, AOC said she was "conveniently" having issues with mentions and notifications on her Twitter account.
AOC didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Twitter automatically responded to Insider's request for comment with a poo emoji.