

News
Is Twitter retaliating against verified users for supporting Elon Musk?
Is Twitter retaliating against verified users for supporting Elon Musk? It seems like it in the case of Andrea Stroppa, a former contributor to the World Economic Forum, and cyber security researcher focusing on digital communication, and social media.
Andreas’s research includes topics such as digital propaganda, bots, and counterfeiting. He’s been mentioned in academic papers, media outlets, and think tanks. Andrea told me that the U.S. Government cited his work on digital counterfeiting in a report for the President of the U.S.
Andrea has been very outspoken about Twitter’s bot problems and he’s backed his claims up with hours of research shared in detailed threads. Elon Musk followed him earlier this year after interacting with some of those threads.
To be clear, Andrea changed his Twitter name to avoid messages from verified bots that sent him malicious links and signed "Twitter support". So in fact, he was pushed to take action in an attempt to protect himself.
— Eva Fo𝕏 🦊 Claudius Nero's Legion (@EvaFoxU) August 23, 2022
My friend and fellow journalist, Eva Fox, (Tesmanian) first pointed out the observation. She tweeted that Andrea lost his blue checkmark because he changed his Twitter name to avoid messages from verified bots sending out malicious links signed with “Twitter support.”
Eva pointed out to me that this isn’t just wrong, but it’s a policy that encourages the proliferation of bot/spam accounts. The real question is how do these scam bots get verified without losing their verification status when changing their names? @Nfkmobile posed that question and noted that it does look like an inside job.
Andrea has been keeping up with the Twitter and scam bots and I’ve written about a few of those threads in the articles below.
- Opinion: Fmr President Trump was wrong to call Elon Musk “another bullshit artist”
- This included Andrea’s thread documenting the bots that amplified Insider’s article about Elon Musk’s personal life which led to the harassment of a person close to him.
- Scammers use Elon Musk’s face to advertise on Facebook and Instagram
- Although Andrea’s thread covers another social media platform, it’s an example of his work documenting the bot activities across social media networks.
- Elon Musk raises awareness of Twitter’s lack of transparency on ad audits
- In this article, Andrea’s thread highlighted the questions that Elon Musk thinks that Twitter is doing all it can do to avoid answering.
How Andrea lost his Twitter verification status.
Andrea shared the full story with me on how he lost his Twitter verification status. He has been constantly bombarded by verified accounts sending him fake logins to compromise his account. Thinking that his user name was on some list of malicious actors, he decided to protect his account by changing it.
The verified account harassing him, Andrea told me, was the former head of communication at Zoom, who told Teslarati in a statement that they were working with Twitter to recover their account.
Andrea wasn’t aware that if you changed your user name, you lose your verification.
Although the verified account is allowed by Twitter to continue its phishing, Andrea was punished for protecting his account. Still, he opened a ticket and Twitter sent him a general link about verification. So he re-applied and two days later, was denied because he didn’t “their notoriety requirements.”
Andrea told me that he’s often flooded with spam and insults from trolls and bots. In a statement to Teslarati, he said:
“Companies like Twitter have colossal power and so a considerable responsibility. It’s worrying if Twitter starts retaliating against users because it breaks the trust between users and the company. I’m not against Twitter. I love Twitter.”
“In fact, I think that Twitter deserves better and most of the employees are great people, but I’m worried that some leadership members are betraying the little blue bird. In the Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri considered one of the worst sins the betray.”
“I worked on these topics, bots, and digital propaganda, for years and I have a good relationship with many reporters. With some of them, I said: you’re all underestimating Elon’s questions. These questions he posed are fundamental, and sooner or later, the truth will come up. And it’s coming.”
Twitter, Elon Musk, Bots, shadow banning & more.
In many cases, Twitter has been known to randomly shadow ban and even suspend accounts that have interacted with Elon Musk. It happened to me. My account was suspended in 2020 after Elon replied to me about shipping ventilators to Louisiana during Covid-19.
It was a horrible feeling losing my account. After several months, I got it back, and was verified less than a year later. However, I’ve seen other friends who were verified lose their status. And have seen friends lose their accounts for absolutely no reason at all. Even Teslarati was shadow banned until Elon Musk questioned why with one single emoji.
🤔
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 18, 2022
And now, Andrea took measures to protect his account from verified crypto scam bots that Twitter allows to freely change their names and loses his status. Andrea’s threads are highly visible and with Elon Musk following him, it sure does look suspicious that Twitter will allow these crypto scam bots to continue while actively refusing to give Andrea his verification status back.
In the tweet below, Gail Alfar found that a Fox News account based in North Carolina was also promoting crypto scams in response to one of Elon Musk’s tweets.
@elonmusk @FOX4 it looks like this bot account @alliyahsimsTV was once yours. A news account that was hacked into. pic.twitter.com/UlfLhcR34M
— Gail Alfar (@GailAlfarATX) August 23, 2022
The fact that Andrea has been documenting the bots with his threads has not gone unnoticed. And now that he was a target of the very bots and scam accounts that he was documenting, he took steps to protect his account and lost his verification. Twitter’s refusal to verify Andrea while allowing these bots and crypto scam accounts to continue has me wondering if Twitter is actually retaliating against verified users for supporting Elon Musk.
It sounds extreme, but in Andrea’s case, one has to wonder. Although I am not personally accusing them of such, Twitter’s actions make it look really, really bad. One way the network can prove itself is by restoring Andrea’s verification. Another way is to actually suspend these verified bot and crypto accounts. Even Elon Musk has called Twitter out on them.
Ahem @twitter pic.twitter.com/LCDpOeIei5
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2022
Note: Johnna is a Tesla shareholder and supports its mission.
Your feedback is important. If you have any comments, concerns, or see a typo, you can email me at johnna@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @JohnnaCrider1
News
Tesla gets price target increase on Wall Street, but it’s a head-scratcher
Delaney’s price target on Tesla shares went up to $395 from $300. Currently, Tesla is trading between $420 and $430, making the new price target from Goldman Sachs a bit of a head-scratcher.

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) received a price target increase from a Wall Street analyst today, who noted in his report that the company’s shares could rise or fall based on its execution in robotics and autonomy.
However, the price target boost still fell below Tesla’s current trading levels.
Mark Delaney of Goldman Sachs said in a note to investors today that Tesla has a significant opportunity to solidify itself as one of the stable and safe plays in the market if it can execute on its two key projects: humanoid robots and autonomy.
In the note, Delaney said:
“If Tesla can have [an] outsized share in areas such as humanoid robotics and autonomy, then there could be upside to our price target.”
Delaney’s price target on Tesla shares went up to $395 from $300. Currently, Tesla is trading between $420 and $430, making the new price target from Goldman Sachs a bit of a head-scratcher.
He went on to say that Tesla could also confront outside factors that would limit the stock’s ability to see growth, including competition and potentially its own lack of execution:
“…although if competition limits profits (as is happening with the ADAS market in China) or Tesla does not execute well, then there could be downside.”
The note is an interesting one because it seems to point out the blatantly obvious: if Tesla performs well, the stock will rise. If it doesn’t, the stock price will decline.
We discussed yesterday in an article that Tesla is one of the few stocks out there that does not seem to be influenced by financials or anything super concrete. Instead, it is more influenced by the narrative currently surrounding the company, rather than the technicals.
Tesla called ‘biggest meme stock we’ve ever seen’ by Yale associate dean
Tesla’s prowess in robotics and autonomy is strong. In robotics, it has a very good sentiment following its Optimus project, and it has shown steady improvement with subsequent versions of the robot with each release.
On the autonomy front, Tesla is expanding its Robotaxi platform in Austin every few weeks, and also has a sizeable geofence in the Bay Area. Its Full Self-Driving suite is among the most robust in the world and is incredibly useful and accurate.
The company can gain significant value if it continues to refine the platform and eventually rolls out a driverless or unsupervised version of the Full Self-Driving suite.
Elon Musk
Tesla addresses door handle complaints with simple engineering fix
“We’ll have a really good solution for that. I’m not worried about it.”

Tesla is going to adjust one heavily scrutinized part of its vehicles after recent government agencies have launched probes into an issue stemming from complaints from owners.
Over the past few days, we have reported on the issues with Tesla’s door handle systems from both the Chinese and American governments.
In China, it dealt with the Model S, while the United States’ National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported nine complaints from owners experiencing issues with 2021 Model Ys, as some said they had trouble entering their car after the 12V battery was low on power.
Bloomberg, in an interview with Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen, asked whether the company planned to adjust the door handle design to alleviate any concerns that regulatory agencies might have.
Regarding the interior latch concerns in the United States:
- Von Holzhausen said that, while a mechanical door release resolves this problem, Tesla plans to “combine the two” to help reduce stress in what he called “panic situations.”
- He also added that “it’s in the cars now…The idea of combining the electronic and the manual one together in one button, I think, makes a lot of sense.” Franz said the muscle memory of reaching for the same button will be advantageous for children and anyone who is in an emergency.
Regarding the exterior door handle concerns in China:
- Von Holzhausen said Tesla is reviewing the details of the regulation and confirmed, “We’ll have a really good solution for that. I’m not worried about it.”
Franz von Holzhausen (from Tesla’s Robovan) on Tesla’s upcoming redesigned door handles: pic.twitter.com/lnaKve1SlJ
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) September 17, 2025
The new Model Y already has emergency mechanical door release latches in the back, but combining them in future vehicles seems to be an ideal solution for other vehicles in Tesla’s lineup.
It will likely help Tesla avoid complaints from owners about not having an out in the event of a power outage or accident. It is a small engineering change that could be extremely valuable for future instances.
News
Elon Musk calls out viral claim of 10,000 Tesla Optimus deal: “Fake”
For now at least, Tesla seems determined to focus on the development of Optimus V3.

Elon Musk has provided some clarification to recent reports suggesting that PharmAGRI, a US pharmaceutical and agricultural infrastructure company, is looking to deploy 10,000 Optimus robots for its operations.
Musk posted his clarification on social media platform X.
Alleged Optimus purchase
Recently, reports emerged stating that PharmAGRI Capital Partners will be tapping into Tesla’s humanoid robots for its operations. The firm claimed that it had executed a Letter of Intent with Tesla to deploy up to 10,000 Optimus Gen 3+ humanoid robots across its SuperPharm and CEA facilities. This should allow the company to automate its labor and ensure diversion control.
A comment from Lynn Stockwell, Chairwoman & CEO, suggested that the company really was partnering with Tesla. “With Tesla robotics powering our facilities and DEA-licensed infrastructure in place, we can scale with precision, meet federal sourcing mandates, and deliver therapies that are compliant, secure, and American-made,” she said.
Elon Musk clariies
News of PharmAGRI’s Optimus claims quickly spread on social media, though some Tesla watchers argued that it seemed unlikely that the EV maker will commit two legions of Optimus robots to a rather unknown company this early. Some pointed out that Tesla typically commits to high-profile customers to test its early products, such as PepsiCo with the Tesla Semi.
Photos from PharmAGRI’s website depicting Tesla Optimus bots, as well as the rather basic look of the website itself, also brought more reservations to the company’s claims. Ultimately, Elon Musk weighed in on the matter, responding to a post about PharmAGRI’s Optimus-filled webpage. Musk was quick and direct, simply stating, “Fake.”
Elon Musk’s comments were quite unsurprising considering that Optimus is still very much in active development, and thus, it is quite unlikely that the company is already taking orders or even Letters of Intent from potential customers at this time. For now at least, Tesla seems determined to focus on the development of Optimus V3, which Musk has noted will be “sublime.”
-
News2 weeks ago
Tesla launches new Supercharger program that business owners will love
-
Elon Musk2 weeks ago
Tesla Board takes firm stance on Elon Musk’s political involvement in pay package proxy
-
News2 weeks ago
Tesla deploys Unsupervised FSD in Europe for the first time—with a twist
-
News2 weeks ago
Tesla explains why Robotaxis now have safety monitors in the driver’s seat
-
News2 weeks ago
Tesla is already giving Robotaxi privileges hours after opening public app
-
Elon Musk2 weeks ago
Elon Musk says Tesla will take Safety Drivers out of Robotaxi: here’s when
-
Elon Musk2 weeks ago
Elon Musk is setting high expectations for Tesla AI5 and AI6 chips
-
News1 week ago
Tesla is improving this critical feature in older vehicles