Taliban leaders using the premium service on the microblogging social media site Twitter apparently had their verified blue ticks deleted.
At least two Taliban officials and four well-known supporters were utilizing the Twitter Blue function in Afghanistan, according to a BBC report.
According to reports, the blue tick has been removed from Hedayatullah Hedayat, director of the Taliban’s “access to information” department, and Abdul Haq Hammad, director of the media watchdog at the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture.
Since gaining control of Afghanistan, the Taliban have used both Facebook and Twitter extensively. They also have a tight hold over the nation’s state-owned newspapers, radio stations, and television networks.
While most accounts linked to the former Western-backed government have been dormant since the takeover, new “official” ones have proliferated — although none with Twitter’s blue tick of authenticity.
In November 2022, Twitter introduced a membership option for $8 per month that included the blue checkmark now offered to verified accounts. Twitter announced that users who “sign up now” will get the blue checkmark next to their names “exactly like the celebrities, businesses, and politicians you currently follow,” according to an update for Apple iOS devices.
