Since Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, took over Twitter in October 2022, the social media platform has witnessed many changes. The blue tick previously denoted “active, prominent, and authentic accounts of public interest” that Twitter had verified. Previously, users couldn’t purchase this service. The social media network now enables account holders to subscribe to Twitter Blue for $8 per month online and $11 per month for iPhone users. The Taliban have reportedly begun utilising Twitter’s paid verification feature, according to a BBC report. As a result, some Taliban members’ accounts now display blue ticks.
Which Taliban Officials Have A Verified Badge?
According to the reports, four Twitter users that support the Afghani militant group, in addition to at least two Taliban officials, are currently using checkmarks. Hedayatullah Hedayat, chief of the Taliban’s “access to information” division, now has the blue checkmark on his Twitter profile.
With 187,000 followers, Hedayat’s Twitter account frequently publishes news on the Taliban government. According to local media, the social networking platform allegedly deleted his purchased blue tick last month, but it has since resurfaced.
Moreover, a senior official at the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture, Abdul Haq Hammad, also has a blue tick on his account. He has 1,70,000 Twitter followers, and his bio on the social media platform reads, “Islamic scholar and political analyst.”
Twitter does not exercise any restraints on the accessibility of the profiles though it warns users of the likelihood of potentially sensitive content on them.
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Taliban supporters also paid for the verified checkmark. The Taliban official Muhammad Jalala, who has 85,500 followers on Twitter, previously characterised himself as a supporter of the Afghan government. According to the report, Jalal lauded Musk and declared that the multibillionaire was “making Twitter great again.”
Will the Blue Tick be beneficial for the Taliban?
iOS users can access the Twitter Blue service for $11 a month, and the same can be accessed on the web for $8 a month. The only prerequisites are that the account is 90 days old and has a verified phone number.
According to Twitter, those who pay for the verification receive “priority ranking in search, mentions, and responses” to aid in preventing spam and bots.
In August 2021, the Taliban seized control of verified accounts that the previous Afghan government had run. According to the BBC, this includes the handle of the Afghanistan Cricket Board, which now sports a gold tick.
