Elon Musk’s social network X sells verification “blue ticks” to representatives of terrorist groups
The social network X, owned by American businessman Elon Musk, has given blue ticks to accounts associated with members of terrorist organizations. For $8 per month, this mark allows you to publish longer posts and promote them better.
This is stated in the report of the non-profit organization Tech Transparency Project (TTP).
According to TTP, the blue mark was bought by the account “Ansar Allah” (“Houthis”). This terrorist group attacks ships in the Red Sea and obstructs international shipping.
Another account with a verification mark had the name and profile picture of Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which is recognized as a terrorist group in the United States. Analysts note that he has passed “identity verification,” a service that X offers to premium subscribers to prevent cases of someone impersonating another person.
In total, the organization found 28 blue-ticked X accounts linked to people and organizations under US sanctions. These are Iranian and Russian state media, the Russian Tinkoff Bank, a group of militants supported by Iran, the son of the half-brother and adviser to the late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, and so on.
A few hours after the report was published, social network X removed all the blue check marks and suspended the account of the Iranian-sponsored Harakat al-Nujaba militants.
The social network publicly responded that it “has a reliable and secure approach to monetization” and complies with legal obligations. X stated that several accounts in the report were not explicitly listed in the sanctions lists, and some simply had a check mark, without other services that were subject to restrictions. Nevertheless, representatives of the social network assured that they would take action if necessary.
