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Elon Musk’s New “8 Ticks” Continue to Confuse – And I Just Got Fooled by a Fake Kyrie Irving Story
I’ll be honest with you — I thought I had this whole Twitter, or should I say X, thing figured out. But just the other day, I scrolled past a tweet that claimed the Brooklyn Nets had released Kyrie Irving. It came from what looked like a legit sports account. Blue check, seemingly professional name, snappy headline. For a second, I actually believed it. Spoiler alert: it was completely fake. And it made me realize just how messy Elon Musk’s “new verification” system has become.
If you’re confused about all these “ticks,” you’re not alone — I am too. Ever since Musk took over Twitter and rebranded it as X, he’s introduced an ever-evolving set of changes to the platform. Some were interesting, others chaotic. But this latest twist — the “8 ticks” prank that’s now circulating — really takes the cake.
Here’s what happened: pranksters are now creating hyper-realistic parody accounts using Elon Musk’s paid verification system. They pay for premium status, which grants them a blue check, and now there are even gold and grey badges for organizations and governments. But these “8 ticks” are basically a flex — as if having multiple badges somehow makes the account more trustworthy. It doesn’t. Instead, it creates a perfect smokescreen for trolls to spread fake news, and people like me — and maybe you — to fall for it.
What’s wild is that Musk originally promised to fix the platform’s trust issues. Remember when he said the verification check would help eliminate bots and impersonators? Yeah… that aged like milk. Now, if you’re willing to pay, you can look as official as the NBA, the White House, or The New York Times. And unless someone clicks in and double-checks every detail — which, let’s be real, most of us don’t do when doom-scrolling — it’s incredibly easy to get tricked.
The Kyrie Irving prank was a perfect example. It took off fast. Some fans went into a frenzy, others started tagging NBA insiders asking for confirmation. And here I was, staring at my screen wondering when the Nets made that move — before realizing it was just another expertly crafted fake account.
What worries me isn’t just that these kinds of tweets go viral — it’s that they feel real. In a world where information spreads faster than truth can catch up, Musk’s “pay-to-verify” model feels like a recipe for misinformation overload.
So what do we do? I don’t have all the answers, but I do know this: I’ll be double-checking every verified account from now on. And I hope you do too. Because in Elon’s new Wild West of social media, the blue check doesn’t mean what it used to — and that’s exactly what pranksters are counting on.
Stay sharp out there.
