Murder of US CEO: X account of suspect with blue checkmark back online

Following the arrest of a suspect in the sensational murder of a CEO in New York, X first blocked the man's suspected account after a long delay, but then unblocked it again and even gave it a blue tick. This was apparently preceded by an intervention by X boss Elon Musk. After his social network was first praised for keeping the account accessible and later criticized for blocking it, he promised to take care of it. This had happened without his knowledge. The account later reappeared and is now considered "verified", even if no verification is carried out.

Blue tick, even though not all requirements are met

Since the 26-year-old arrested on Monday was accused of shooting and fatally wounding the CEO of the billion-dollar US insurer United Healthcare in the street last week, a search for traces of the man has broken out on the internet. Until now, it has been customary for online services to take the associated profiles offline in such cases, for example to prevent glorification. This was also the case on Twitter, but things have changed under Elon Musk. It is unclear why the account was restored and, above all, why it was given a blue tick. Among other things, the account user must have been active in the 30 days prior to verification, which he obviously was not.

So while X needed some time to clarify how to deal with the suspect's account, those on Instagram and Threads were blocked. An account on Goodreads, which contains details of the man's reads, was set to private. This means that his reviews can no longer be accessed. The man was arrested on Monday. Among other things, he was carrying identification documents related to the murder. A gun from a 3D printer was also found on him. According to Wired, the template for this was published three years ago and the model is considered to be particularly reliable. Hundreds or even thousands of shots could be fired with such a weapon.

(mho)