Who's paying for a blue checkmark on X-formerly-Twitter these days? According to a new report by the big tech accountability nonprofit Tech Transparency Project (TTP), the answer is: a bunch of terrorists.
The TTP investigation found that more than 200 X users including individuals who appear to be affiliated with Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and Syrian and Iraqi militia groups — all deemed foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) by the US government — are paying for subscriptions to Elon Musk's X.
Put simply, Musk is doing business with actual terrorists, highlighting major flaws in his social media company's content moderation practices.
These paid subscriptions are granting apparent terrorists blue verification badges, which can offer the accounts an added air of legitimacy. Most importantly, though, the subscriptions are granting the users access to premium X features and perks like content monetization tools, the ability to publish longer posts and videos, and greater platform reach — which the TTP says allows for terrorism-linked users to more effectively distribute and monetize propaganda, as well as promote their fundraising efforts.
"They rely on the premium services for the amplification of long propaganda posts and extended videos," TTP director Katie Paul told The New York Times. "They are not just subscribing for the blue check notoriety, they are subscribing for the premium services."
As the TTP points out, X's terms of use forbid users from paying for premium services if they're affiliated with groups under US economic sanctions, including ones imposed by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Neither X nor the Treasury Department responded to a NYT request for comment.
Though X says it reviews subscribed accounts to ensure they "meet all eligibility criteria" for verification, the feature has been pretty broken since Musk took over the platform and made the feature pay-to-play.
What's more, last year, a similar TTP report found that over two dozen users with apparent terror links were paying X subscribers with blue badges. Several of those accounts were banned or stripped of their verification status following the release of the report, but as the NYT points out, several have since been able to regain access to premium features.
The TTP investigation raises serious questions about X's due diligence around content moderation and platform safety. After all, if X can suppress users that Musk doesn't like, and speech that authoritarian governments don't like, can't it keep US-designated terrorists — whether they're the real deal or impersonators — from nabbing blue checks and using X perks to spread and cash in on propaganda?
"There is clear evidence of these groups profiting and fundraising through X," Paul told the NYT. "They are sanctioned for a reason, and the fact that somebody who has such influence and power in the federal government is at the same time profiting from these designated terrorist groups and individuals is extremely concerning."
More on X dot com: Elon Musk's Unhinged Grok AI Is Rambling About “White Genocide” in Completely Unrelated Tweets
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Elon Musk Is Doing Business With Actual Terrorists, Nonprofit Finds
