Murdoch Mystery: Tweeter Reveals Twitter Trip Up

The Rupert Murdoch Twitter saga continues today with news that the account verified by the social networking site as belonging to the media mogul’s wife is, in fact, a fake.

The as-yet-unidentified Twitter user who posed as Wendi Deng Murdoch posted a series of messages on the site earlier this morning, confessing to the ruse.

“As News International has finally come to their senses, it’s time to confirm that yes, this is a fake account,” the user posted. “-.but you have to worry about the management of News International and Twitter if they can both readily confirm, for a while at least, that this was the account of a very noted personality.”

The user claimed they never professed to be entirely genuine. He/she also noted that Twitter verified the account as being authentic – a practice the site employs to ensure users that celebrity and high-profile tweeters are who they claim to be – without even contacting the account holder.

“I really was as surprised as you when this got verified,” the user wrote. “To those of you who kept maintaining the account was fake, even after being verified, good on you for being suspicious.”

As well, the user claimed that they never made fun of Deng Murdoch or took part in any of the “disgusting racism in some of the tweets” people directed at her.

This morning’s fake account revelation is the latest in some bizarre activity surrounding Rupert Murdoch on Twitter. The News Corporation CEO joined the social networking site and began tweeting on Dec. 31 and to date has more than 91,000 followers. The account supposedly belonging to his wife began tweeting the following day and boasts more than 9,500 followers. Initially, skepticism arose as to whether the Murdoch account was real. That was seemingly put to rest when Twitter verified it along with his wife’s.

Shortly thereafter, the user posing as Deng Murdoch mentioned her “husband” in numerous tweets, including famously admonishing him for a post in which he advised that England may be broke because its citizens take too many holidays – a nugget of wisdom he tweeted while on vacation on the Caribbean island of St. Barts. The Deng Murdoch account swiftly sent public tweets to Murdoch that read, “RUPERT!!! delete tweet!” and “EVERY1 @rupertmurdoch was only having a joke PROMISE!!!”

Now, the revelation that the Deng Murdoch Twitter account is fake raises more questions, such as how did the user include Murdoch, and some of his friends, in most of their posts without any of them speaking up and questioning it. Also, Murdoch followed his “wife’s” advice, deleting the holiday post after she told him to. Instances such as these are reigniting the speculation that the Rupert Murdoch account may also be a fake.

This morning, Twitter released the following statement regarding the mistaken verification of Deng Murdoch’s account: “We can confirm that the @Wendi_Deng account was mistakenly verified for a short period of time and apologize for the confusion this caused.”
In the meantime, the user who faked the account refuses to admit their true identity but continues to field questions. They are also quick to deny any ties to the real Wendi Deng Murdoch and, in particular, her husband.

“But I’m definitely not married to Rupert Murdoch. The thought terrifies me. Imagine his whispered sweet nothings,” the user wrote. “And yes, to answer some tweets, of course I’m now in fear of Wendi coming to sort me out with a swift kick.”

 -Mike Crisolago