Broke Twitter verified account rules
As part of a promotional stunt to promote Call of Duty: Black Ops III and reveal new information about the plot of the game, Activision yesterday tweeted out several reports regarding a fake terrorist attack that had allegedly just happened in a highly populated area of Singapore.
The tweets, which came from the official @CallOfDuty Twitter account, explained that an explosion had gone off at the fictional Coalescence Corporation building in Singapore and that Singapore authorities had declared both a state of emergency and martial law within the country.
BREAKING NEWS: Unconfirmed reports are coming in of an explosion on the North bank of the Singapore Marina.
— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) September 29, 2015
While the embedded version of the tweet above may seem like some harmless fun, those in charge of the Twitter account may be in considerable trouble due to breaking several of Twitter’s rules for verified accounts. At the time that these tweets were sent out, the Twitter account had its name, bio, and design altered to better reflect that of a reputable news outlet upon first glance.
Once verified, Twitter accounts are not meant to change several key pieces of information on their account. While clicking on the account would still reveal that it was the Call of Duty account, the verified tick next to an account lends a lot of legitimacy to the content of the tweet when it appears in a users timeline.
The Call of Duty account appears to have deliberately abused the presence of the verified mark on their account to quickly propagate a fake account of a terrorist attack. That feels like it’s in pretty bad taste as far as marketing moves go.
So, do you believe creating a fake but Twitter verified news outlet to tweet about a fake terrorist attack is fair game for marketers, or a little over the line? I’d love to hear what people think.
