Taliban few govt officials start buying blue ticks on Twitter
A few Taliban officials were verified for the first time since the blue tick was monetized. Twitter verified “active, notable, and authentic accounts of public interest” with the blue badge, which could not be bought. Twitter Blue now lets users buy them. Two Taliban officials and four prominent Afghan government supporters are using Twitter verification badges for the first time since their monetization.
Hedayatullah Hedayat, the Taliban’s “access to information” chief, has the tick. He posts Taliban-related content to his 187,000 followers. Local media reported that his paid-for blue tick was removed last month but restored. Abdul Haq Hammad, media watchdog head at the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture, has 170,000 followers and a blue badge.
Famous Taliban supporters have the blue tick. Westerners have long criticized the Taliban’s Twitter presence. Twitter Blue arrived in December. Twitter app users pay $11 per month. Twitter Blue subscribers receive “priority ranking in search, mentions, and replies” to combat spam and bots.
Before Twitter Blue, no official Taliban accounts had the blue tick mark. The Taliban took over verified accounts from the previous administration, including the Afghanistan Cricket Board, after retaking Kabul in August 2021. The sports organization’s account is gold.
Twitter now uses gold checkmarks for businesses and gray ones for other users, like governments. Taliban leaders and supporters use Twitter to spread important messages. Twitter did not comment on this situation.
