- Chinese sextortion scammer accounts have flooded X (previously Twitter) since April after the platform introduced a new blue-check policy allowing users to buy verified badges.
- Scammers target the Chinese community’s most prominent voices, alienating many users who had turned to the platform as a crucial news source outside the Great Firewall.
- Some users have decided to take matters into their own hands, organizing online campaigns and creating software to identify, block, and harass scammers.
In May, Wang Zhi’an noticed something odd: Each time he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, his replies would be flooded with sexual spam within minutes. Once, the Chinese investigative journalist-in-exile made a post discussing X’s new monetization policies. A user named Zizizi963, seemingly an attractive young single woman, replied with a photo of her in lingerie and the words, “When will you come to me and mess up my bed?” Zizizi963 was one of several accounts posting sexual messages in Wang’s replies — they all had blue checkmarks, and were granted greater visibility on the platform.
American Buddhist Net 