Twitter Removes Blue Checkmarks Reportedly Bought By Taliban Officials

Twitter appears to have removed the verified "blue check" status that some senior Taliban officials reportedly bought for their accounts.

The Twitter accounts of at least two members of the Taliban reportedly received the blue ticks, which can be obtained by paying a monthly subscription fee of $8 a month. However, it was canceled after the decision to give Afghanistan's hardline Islamist rulers the elevated status sparked massive outrage.

Hedayatullah Hedayat, the head of the Taliban's department for "access to information," and Abdul Haq Hammad, head of the media watchdog at the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture, briefly had the paid-for blue ticks on their Twitter accounts, according to the New York Post.

Hedayat regularly posts information about the Taliban administration to his 187,000 followers while Hammad has around 170,000 followers, BBC reported.

Twitter previously said these blue checkmarks are given to users after their accounts are reviewed.

Apart from the two officials, four prominent supporters of the Taliban in Afghanistan also reportedly bought the Twitter Blue subscription plan. However, the blue ticks are also no longer visible on their accounts.

Muhammad Jalal, who used to identify himself as a Taliban official, thanked Elon Musk "for buying twitter" in a Monday tweet and said Musk is "making Twitter great again."

Earlier, the blue check marks were only given to users with accounts of public interest once their authenticity was verified. The ticks would be given mainly to politicians, celebrities, entertainers, well-known journalists and other public figures. However, this changed after Musk acquired Twitter last year.

The platform launched the Twitter Blue service in December and allowed users to pay an $8-a-month subscription fee for the blue tick. Apple device users pay a fee of $11.

The subscription would also give users "priority ranking in search, mentions, and replies" on Twitter.

The service was initially rolled out in November but was seen as a massive blunder after many fake accounts started impersonating politicians and major companies.

During the initial roll-out, one prankster managed to get pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly's name on Twitter and claimed the company was giving insulin for free. The hoax tweet led to a plunge in stock prices.

The Twitter Blue service was brought to a halt after the mayhem caused by the November launch. The service was then re-launched in December and reportedly gave the Taliban officials the option of getting the paid-for blue ticks.