Taliban begin acquiring Twitter blue ticks

• In December, the Twitter Blue service was unveiled.
• Users can now purchase them through the brand-new Twitter Blue service.
• The Taliban’s director of “access to information,” Hedayatullah Hedayat, now has the checkmark.

Due to the Taliban’s use of Twitter’s for-pay verification service, several of their accounts now have blue ticks.

The blue tick, which Twitter had previously used to identify “active, prominent, and authentic accounts of public interest,” was unavailable for purchase.

However, users can now purchase them through the brand-new Twitter Blue service.

The checkmarks are now being used by at least two Taliban officials and four notable sympathisers in Afghanistan.

The Taliban’s director of “access to information,” Hedayatullah Hedayat, now has the checkmark.
His Twitter account has 187,000 followers, and he frequently shares news about the Taliban government. According to local media, he had his paid-for blue tick removed last month, but it has now returned.

The Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture’s head of media oversight, Abdul Haq Hammad, has a blue tick on his account and 170,000 followers.

Leading Taliban backers have also obtained the blue tick.

On Monday, Muhammad Jalal, a former Taliban official, complimented Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, saying that he was “making Twitter great again.”
For some time now, there has been debate regarding the existence of hard-line Islamists on Twitter.

In October 2021, former US President Donald Trump, who was removed from office after his supporters stormed the US Capitol, said: “Your favourite American President has been silenced in a world where the Taliban has a tremendous presence on Twitter.

It’s not acceptable.

In December, the Twitter Blue service was unveiled.

Users of the Twitter app for Apple devices must pay an additional price of $11 per month in addition to the $8 monthly subscription.

According to the platform, Twitter Blue subscribers receive “priority ranking in search, mentions, and responses” to aid in the fight against spam and bots.

Before the launch of Twitter Blue, none of the official Taliban accounts that had been spotted had the blue check symbol, which Twitter had previously used to identify individuals whose identities had been verified.

The group seized control of the Afghanistan Cricket Board and other previously-run verified accounts after retaking control of Kabul in August 2021. The athletic organization’s account now has a gold checkmark.

According to Twitter’s new rules, corporations are indicated with a gold checkmark, while other users, such as governmental entities, are indicated by a grey checkmark.

Twitter is often used by Taliban officials and sympathisers, who utilise it to spread important messages.

An inquiry for feedback from Twitter received no response.

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