Sen. Ed Markey hits back at Elon Musk after his response to questions about impersonation

Elon Musk’s Twitter profile is seen on a smartphone placed on printed Twitter logos in this picture illustration taken April 28, 2022.

The senator chastised Musk for not answering his questions about the platform's new verification and impersonation policies.

After a Washington Post reporter successfully set up a fake verified account pretending to be the Massachusetts Democrat, Musk was asked to explain how this happened and how to prevent it from happening again.

In reply, Musk wrote, "Maybe it is because your real account sounds like a parody?"

The congressman didn't seem to like Musk's reply.

The company is under an FTC consent decree. The NHTSA is looking into another case. You are spending a lot of time on the internet. Make your companies better. Or congress will.

Shortly after the Post ran its test, the Blue verification program seemed to have been paused.

The Post was able to set up a handle called "@realEdMarkey" using a spare phone, a credit card and a little creativity. Even though there are two legitimate verified accounts, the account got a blue verified checkmark.

The fake account was verified because it was notable in government, news, entertainment, or another category, according to the Post reporter.

Privacy and moderation executives are no longer with the company.

The blue checkmark was once used to allow users to be smart and critical consumers of news and information. The takeover, sudden platform changes, removal of safeguards against misinformation, and firing of large numbers of employees have accelerated the descent into the wild west of social media.

Musk was asked to reply to the questions by the end of the month.

In the past, Musk and Markey have gone head-to-head on social media.

Musk is also the CEO of the automobile company, and its driver assistance systems are called autopilot and full self driving in the US. The way the company advertises these technologies was raised by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) during a series of crashes. The FTC was asked to investigate.

In June, the senators called on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to take "aggressive investigative and enforcement action on vehicles with automated driving systems" after the administration released data showing more than 500 crashes in vehicles with these technologies.

CNBC contributors contributed to the report.