Overview
- X, which detailed the change Wednesday, will automatically lock any account that mentions cryptocurrency for the first time and keep it restricted until the owner completes extra verification.
- The rollout follows reports of phishing emails posing as copyright notices that send users to look‑alike login pages to steal passwords and two‑factor codes, after which hijackers promote fraudulent tokens and giveaways.
- Head of Product Nikita Bier said the policy should kill most of the incentive for account takeovers, and he signaled that surprise meme‑coin drops from big accounts with no crypto history would be treated as likely hacks.
- Some observers warn the system could snag legitimate first‑time crypto posts, which may slow real users who are new to the topic or returning during market spikes.
- X says the tool builds on bot purges, tighter API access, and behavior checks, and Bier also faulted Gmail’s filtering for letting phishing messages reach inboxes in the first place.