Officials in Afghanistan appear to have lost their verification badges on Twitter after protests from users, who accused the social network of serving as a platform for the Taliban’s authoritarian rule in the country.
Badges used to be a way for the social network itself to authenticate active profiles considered to be of public interest. Since the acquisition of the company by billionaire Elon Musk, however, anyone who subscribes to Twitter Blue can receive one of them, for the amount of US$ 8, or about R$ 40, per month (US$ 11 or R$ 55 in the case supporters of the IOS operating system). The service is not yet available in Brazil.
When announcing the news, Musk had called it a “great leveler”. But its launch generated chaos with the emergence of dozens of authenticated fake accounts – including those of billionaire Tesla and SpaceX –, which led to several companies having real financial losses. The subscription option was then temporarily suspended and returned in December with some modifications.
This Monday (16), the BBC reported that among those who benefited from Twitter Blue are two Taliban officials in Afghanistan: Hedayatullah Hedayat, head of the regime’s access to information department; and Abdul Haq Hammad, the main media inspector in the country according to the broadcaster. Together, their profiles have around 350,000 followers.
On the same date, Elon Musk indirectly criticized the report by making a comment about the British network in his profile. “Congratulations to the BBC for not hiding its state affiliation,” he wrote — the public broadcaster was founded by the UK government a hundred years ago, and maintained a radio monopoly in its territory until 1972.
Already on Tuesday, however, the accounts of Taliban officials lost their verification seals, it is not known whether at the initiative of the network or the users themselves – neither the platform nor Musk publicly commented on the case.
THE Sheet questioned Twitter’s press office about what happened, but did not receive a response until the publication of this text.
The Taliban have long used the microblogging platform to spread their ideas, but had never had their accounts verified until the launch of Twitter Blue. The Islamic fundamentalist group took control of the former government’s accounts when it regained power in Afghanistan in August 2021, two decades after being overthrown by a US-backed military coalition.
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