Twitter ‘blue’ off Taliban bigs
Twitter has revoked the verified “blue check” status of senior members of the Taliban who reportedly paid the $8-a-month subscription fee.
At least two officials of the Islamic group that overran US-backed forces and took over the country amid the American troop withdrawal in August 2021 subscribed to the Twitter “Blue Service” introduced by new owner Elon Musk.
But after BBC News reported the Taliban officials’ verified status, Twitter canceled their subscriptions.
As of Tuesday, Twitter pages for Abdul Haq Hammad, head of the media watchdog unit at the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture, and Hedayatullah Hedayat, a top official in the Taliban’s “information department,” showed no “blue check” next to their handles.
Since reassuming control over Afghanistan, the Taliban have reportedly committed widespread human-rights violations, including the banning of women from schools and government as well as allowing sexual and genderbased violence.
A representative for Twitter, which closed its media-relations department after Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of the company in late October, was not available for comment.
Before Musk bought Twitter, check marks were awarded to certain accounts as a means of conferring their status as public figures, including celebrities, politicians, entertainers and prominent journalists.
In December, Twitter reintroduced its “Twitter Blue” service in hopes of generating more revenue.
The service allowed users to pay an $8 monthly fee in exchange for a blue checkmark that grants them “priority ranking in search, mentions and replies.”
But the initial rollout weeks earlier proved to be disastrous after pranksters assumed the online identities of political leaders and major corporations, including pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly.
The mayhem prompted Musk to suspend the “Twitter Blue” to put in safeguards that would prevent similar incidents in the future.