Are Al Qaeda and other terror groups in US paying X for blue ticks?

Elon Musk’s social media platform X has been accepting subscription fees from groups and individuals that are designated as terrorists by the United States, a new report has found.

The Tech Transparency Project, a nonprofit that monitors big tech firms, carried out the investigation. It said X continued to collect payments from accounts that seemed to belong to leaders of Hezbollah and officials from the Houthi group.

The study said those paying for X’s services include an Al-Qaeda adviser, a Hezbollah founder, the head of an Iraqi militia accused of attacking US troops, and a senior Houthi official.

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According to the group, more than 200 accounts tied to terrorist or sanctioned organisations in the US have bought blue tick subscriptions on X.

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In this explainer, we break down what the investigation found, who such subscribers are, and how the platform is being used to raise funds.

Let’s take a look:

What the study reveals

The Tech Transparency Project found that over 200 accounts on Elon Musk’s platform X, including those linked to Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and militia groups in Syria and Iraq, organisations the US government lists as foreign terrorist groups, are paying for subscriptions.

This raises concerns because the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) bars American companies from doing business with people or groups under US sanctions, unless specifically authorised.

Notably, X’s own rules state that users under OFAC sanctions are not allowed to access its premium features.

Despite this, the study found that many of these accounts had an “ID verified” label, according to a report by The Independent. This badge is given after users upload a government ID and a selfie, which X then uses to confirm their identity.

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Several of these users also made use of X’s features that allow them to receive money, such as a tip button.

The platform, which was earlier known as Twitter, once gave blue checkmarks to notable people. After Elon Musk took over, he turned it into a paid feature. Users now pay to access premium services like higher visibility in search results, the ability to edit posts, and the option to upload longer videos.

As the investigation shows, over 200 accounts linked to terrorist and sanctioned groups in the US have paid for these blue ticks.

These transactions come at a time when Musk is also heading the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) in the Trump administration to reduce the size of the federal workforce.

In February, Musk criticised the Treasury Department for lacking “basic controls” to prevent payments from reaching terrorist groups or people not meant to receive them.

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What are some of these accounts?

X says that premium accounts receive a checkmark only after a review to make sure “subscribed accounts meet all eligibility criteria”.

Some of the accounts found by the Tech Transparency Project could belong to impersonators. However, several had an “ID verified” label, which is only given after the user submits a selfie and an official ID.

One such account appears to belong to Subhi Tufayli, a founder of Hezbollah and the group’s first secretary general. He has been on the US sanctions list since 1995.

His “ID verified” account, active since October 2023, has over 40,700 followers and regularly posts half-hour videos of his sermons, according to The New York Times.

An account linked to Yemen’s Houthi rebels had a blue tick at one point, but X removed the badge last year after the first Tech Transparency Project report.

Still, a new report by the group said that at least five senior Houthi officials later appeared to pay for checkmarks on X. These accounts, with more than 820,000 followers combined, include one under the name Hussain al-Ezzi, identified as a deputy foreign minister for the Houthis, who publicly asked Musk to let the group get verified again.

Some of these accounts also used X to raise funds. They either made use of X’s tipping and subscription tools or asked followers to send funds through cryptocurrency links.

Katie Paul, who leads the Tech Transparency Project, told The New York Times, “There is clear evidence of these groups profiting and fundraising through X.”

Paul further said, “They are sanctioned for a reason, and the fact that somebody who has such influence and power in the federal government is at the same time profiting from these designated terrorist groups and individuals is extremely concerning."

What happened after the organisation’s first report?

In February last year, the Tech Transparency Project first raised concerns about sanctioned groups using premium services on X.

On the same day, X’s Safety account responded directly to the report, saying the platform “has a robust and secure approach in place for our monetisation features, adhering to legal obligations, along with independent screening by our payments providers.”

Just hours after the report came out, X removed the checkmarks from all the accounts mentioned and later suspended many of them.

However, according to The New York Times, within a month, several of these accounts managed to buy the blue badges again and have kept them since.