NYT: X Has Sold Checkmarks To Hundreds Of Terrorists

The New York Times reports:

More than a year after researchers first warned X that it was potentially violating U.S. sanctions by accepting payments for subscription accounts from terrorist organizations and other groups barred from doing business in the country, Elon Musk’s social media platform continues to accept such payments, according to a new report.

The report, by the Tech Transparency Project, a nonprofit focused on accountability for large technology companies, said X had continued to take payments from accounts that appeared to be affiliated with Hezbollah leaders, Houthi officials, and militia leaders in Syria and Iraq. The subscriptions, which cost $8 a month, offer users a blue check mark — once limited to notable users like celebrities — and come with perks. Those include more prominent placement in X’s algorithm, the ability to edit posts and the option to share longer videos.

More than 200 accounts linked to terrorist groups and other sanctioned groups have bought blue check marks, according to the Tech Transparency Project.

Read the full article.

NEW: TTP found premium blue checkmark accounts for multiple terrorists and others under OFAC-enforced sanctions. Some of these accounts even had an “ID verified” badge, requested tips, and offered subscriptions. https://t.co/GVWvkCfPjX

— Tech Transparency Project (@TTP_updates) May 15, 2025

The findings add to questions, first raised by TTP in February 2024, about X’s adherence to sanctions designed to protect U.S. national interests, even as the company maintains it has a “robust and secure” approach to its monetization features. pic.twitter.com/uv693A8i0U

— Tech Transparency Project (@TTP_updates) May 15, 2025

According to X, premium accounts can get a blue checkmark “after a review to ensure subscribed accounts meet all eligibility criteria.” The platform makes clear that users are prohibited from using premium service if they are under U.S. economic sanctions pic.twitter.com/WFLKlKwF7z

— Tech Transparency Project (@TTP_updates) May 15, 2025

@USTreasury OFAC regulations prohibit transactions with sanctioned individuals and entities including the “making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any blocked person and the receipt of … from any such person.”

— Tech Transparency Project (@TTP_updates) May 15, 2025

Mahdi al-Mashat, the chairman of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, appears to have a blue checkmark using the handle @ Preesident_Ye

Created in January 2025 and verified with a blue checkmark in April, a month after OFAC announced sanctions against al-Mashat pic.twitter.com/xfbiLfoEHQ

— Tech Transparency Project (@TTP_updates) May 15, 2025

Subhi Tufayli, a founder of Hezbollah, appears to have a blue checkmark account with the handle @/sobhitfaily

The account, which is “ID verified” by X, was created in February 2016 and verified in October 2023. Tufayli has been sanctioned since 1995 pic.twitter.com/dng6yu2xMQ

— Tech Transparency Project (@TTP_updates) May 15, 2025

Hassan Moukalled, described by OFAC as a key Hezbollah financier, appears to have a blue checkmark account.

After TTP’s Feb. 2024 report identified this account, X quickly removed its blue checkmark.

But the account re-acquired a blue checkmark a month later, in March 2024. pic.twitter.com/cPd9JWtFtf

— Tech Transparency Project (@TTP_updates) May 15, 2025

Mohammed Hussein al-Jasim (aka Abu Amsha), leader of the Suleiman Shah Brigade, a Turkey-backed militia active in northern Syria sanctioned since Aug. 2023, appears to have a blue checkmark account.

The account has been verified since March 2023. pic.twitter.com/EgZj5tWVmw

— Tech Transparency Project (@TTP_updates) May 15, 2025

Saadi Gadhafi, a son of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi, had a blue checkmark that was removed after being identified in TTP’s Feb. 2024 report.

But he created a new X account, Asaadialqaddafi, in June 2024 and got it ID verified with a blue checkmark the same month. pic.twitter.com/IrEjvL9boo

— Tech Transparency Project (@TTP_updates) May 15, 2025

In addition to displaying blue checkmarks, some of the accounts showed they were “ID verified,” meaning X put them through an extra layer of review designed to prevent impersonation. pic.twitter.com/JxhxkVni7f

— Tech Transparency Project (@TTP_updates) May 15, 2025

TTP also found several accounts making use of X’s revenue-generating features including subscriptions (which X takes a fee from) and tips to make money off their followers.

X’s own policies state that its premium services are off-limits to parties sanctioned by OFAC. pic.twitter.com/AsjFDK8gT0

— Tech Transparency Project (@TTP_updates) May 15, 2025