A recent post on social media app X calling for the removal of the Bitcoin ($BTC) and Satoshi Nakamato accounts has gained traction from the crypto community.
The post, made by the user Pledditor, calls for X owner Elon Musk to remove the accounts claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the unidentified creator of Bitcoin, and another with the handle @Bitcoin.
Both accounts are argued to violate the platform’s terms of service due to the use of “misleading and deceptive” identities.
X’s strict impersonation policies
The terms and conditions of the X platform have a section detailing restrictions on misleading accounts and stealing identities.
Specifically, they state users “may not misappropriate the identity of individuals, groups, or organizations or use a fake identity to deceive others”.
After Musk allowed anyone to purchase a verification checkmark, accounts emerged impersonating various brands and celebrities. For example, an X account impersonated US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and posted “insulin is free now”. This caused the company’s actual stock prices to fall over 4%.
X user Pledditor emphasised that these accounts violate the social media apps rules. They even shared images from the X help centre that detail the platform’s policies.
Satoshi Nakamoto
The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto has long been a topic of speculation and debate in the crypto community.
The X account, which claims to be Nakamoto, has been linked to another user named Andy Rowe in 2018. Rowe mentioned in a past post that he gathers “quotes” for the Satoshi account.
Though inactive since 31 October 2018, the Satoshi account recently made a post yesterday, 2 October, hinting at discussing various components of the Bitcoin whitepaper in the upcoming months.
While the true identity of Satoshi remains unknown, several claims have been made over the years. A notable one is from Craig Wright who, on 21 July, received permission to appeal in a UK court concerning a Bitcoin rights lawsuit where he asserted ownership of the Bitcoin whitepaper and database.
Bitcoin X account
Meanwhile, the Bitcoin account has a much more active recent history. It posts about recent price movements, as well as BTC-related images.
Verified with the blue tick on X, the account has more than six million followers on the social media platform. Its bio reads: “Bitcoin is an open source censorship-resistant peer-to-peer immutable network. Trackable digital gold. Don’t trust; verify. Not your keys; not your coins.”
Crypto community’s response
The crypto community seems to largely support Pledditor’s claims. Many find the accounts misleading, with some deeming their presence on X as “embarrassing”.
One user mentioned previous attempts to notify platform administrators about the accounts but received no response.
Another said Musk should handle it similar to how the platform reacted to @internet account, which has since been deactivated.
At the time of writing, both the Bitcoin and Satoshi accounts are still running and have the blue verification checkmark. Neither have publicly responded to Pledditor’s post. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin account has continued to publish crypto-related content.
Musk, who is often intertwined with the crypto community, has also not responded to Pledditor’s post.
