News Corp. Rep on Fake Wendi Deng Twitter Account: 'No Plans to Pursue Any Actions'

NEW YORK — News Corp. has "no plans to pursue any actions," a spokeswoman for the conglomerate said after it emerged Tuesday that a Twitter account using the handle Wendi_Deng, the name of chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch's wife, was a fake.

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The spokeswoman said the company wasn't planning to pursue legal or other actions against Twitter or the unknown user.

The fake Deng account user had sent spoof messages, which weren't offensive though. "Above all, this was a bit of fun," the person behind the Twitter account said earlier Tuesday after acknowledging that he or she was not really Murdoch's wife.

Asked earlier how the Wendi Deng Twitter account could have been verified, News Corp. confirmed it was a fake and said that its verification was a question for Twitter.
 
"We don't comment on the verification process, but can confirm that the @wendi_deng account was mistakenly verified for a short time," a Twitter spokeswoman had said. "We apologize for any confusion this caused."

Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the largest News Corp. shareholder behind Murdoch, recently acquired a 3.75 percent stake in Twitter.

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com

Twitter: @georgszalai