Social media platform X has announced a sweeping change to its impersonation policy, mandating that parody and fan accounts include clear labels such as "fake" or "parody" at the beginning of their usernames starting Thursday.

The platform will also require these accounts to use distinct profile images that differ from those of the individuals or organisations they mimic.

The directive is part of a broader crackdown on confusion caused by impersonation, particularly high-profile cases involving accounts impersonating X's owner, Elon Musk.

The company said in a statement on Saturday: "These changes are designed to help users better understand the unaffiliated nature of PCF accounts and reduce the risk of confusion or impersonation."

The new measures will not be limited to parody accounts alone.

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Fan pages and commentary accounts will also be subjected to the same conditions.

Affected users have been urged to revise their profiles ahead of the enforcement deadline.

A parody account of Elon Musk with over one million followers recently posted a Tesla giveaway promotion urging users to “like and comment” to win the vehicle.

The post garnered 428,000 likes and more than 200,000 replies, showcasing the scale of engagement such impersonations can generate.

Though X introduced parody labels earlier in January, building on existing rules requiring impersonators to disclose their intent as entertainment, the latest move marks a more prescriptive approach to reduce ambiguity.

Previously, many such accounts simply placed a clarifying term like "parody" in brackets at the end of their names—a tactic that proved insufficient when only the truncated handle was visible, especially when accompanied by a matching profile image.

The European Union weighed in on the platform’s verification system last July, declaring that the blue tick could mislead users and fall foul of content rules.

The bloc said X's verification approach, particularly for “verified” blue tick accounts, had the potential to “deceive” users. Musk, in response, branded the EU’s stance as “misinformation.”

Since his acquisition of the platform in November 2022, Musk has maintained a firm stance against unlabelled impersonation, declaring that such accounts would be banned. However, enforcement has often proved inconsistent.

Posts from Elon Musk parody accounts continue to vary widely—from jokes and memes to dubious cryptocurrency promotions and contests—raising questions about how effectively the platform's labelling policies have curbed misinformation.

As the Thursday deadline nears, X faces renewed pressure to prove that its policies can walk the tightrope between free expression and responsible platform governance