How to Report a Fake Twitter Account

Last Updated: November 5, 2016

Twitter is very keen on their user-integrity policies and strictly enforces these guidelines. Twitter profiles that are impersonating other people are not allowed. As you can imagine, there are some fake accounts that can go unnoticed by Twitter for a long time, until someone sounds the alarm. If you want to help out, you can report a fake Twitter account to the Twitter support team so they can review it.

Steps

1
Find the fake Twitter profile. Type the name of the profile you think is impersonating another individual on the search text field, on the upper left corner of the Twitter home section of the webpage version, or the mobile app. Once the profile appears on the result list, select its name to view its profile summary.
2
Open the Report window. Select the gear icon on the right-hand side of the account profile and select “Report” to open the Report window.

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3
Report the account as an “impersonator.” Select “They’re being harmful or abusive” from the list of options on the Report window and press the “Next” button. Choose “Pretending to be me or someone else” from the list of options that appear and press the “Next” button again to continue.
4
Choose who the account is impersonating. On the next step, select who the account is pretending to be by choosing from the following options: “Me,” “Someone I represent,” “My company or brand,” or “Someone else.” After that, press “Next” to proceed to the last step.
5
Block or mute the fake account. On the last step of the Report window, you can choose to either “Block” the account or just hide it from your newsfeed by selecting “Mute.” Press the “Done” button to close the Report window and complete your report.
- Your report will go under verification of the Twitter support team. If your report is valid, Twitter will delete the fake account from its web space. They will also inform you by sending a message to your Twitter profile.
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Community Q&A

Question

If the Twitter account is set up by a former employee of one year and he refuses to close it, what can we do? He is representing our school without being an employee.

Community Answer

Try using this link to contact twitter: help.twitter.com/forms/trademark. According to Twitter: "Using another's trademark in a manner that may mislead or confuse others about your brand affiliation may be a violation of our trademark policy."
Question

I think an account is a scam. What can I do to protect others?

Community Answer

Block the user and encourage other users to do the same. Take screenshots of the account's tweets and behavior because you might need to send that content when you report them.
Question

Someone I don't know created a Twitter account using my phone number. They are impersonating me. What can I do?

Community Answer

Report the account. Click the 3 dots icon and report it under "Pretending to be me or someone else". Also, post content on your real account.
Question

How can I report a page if I don’t have an account?

Community Answer

You can't. To use the site, including to report issues, you need to be signed in to an account. Creating an account on Twitter is free, and you don't need to pay money or use a phone number.
Question

There is a stranger on Twitter who is impersonating me. I don't have a Twitter account. Do I need to set one up so I can have the fake post removed?

Community Answer

Yes, you will need to make an account of your own, since you can only report a post if you are signed in. It's against Twitter's policy to create an account that maliciously impersonates someone else, so provided you can give them the necessary evidence as to who you are, you should be able to get it fixed.