There are now recognised Twitter accounts for Taliban leaders. According to the BBC, two well-known officials and four fans all used bluetick subscriptions to get their profiles validated.
This includes Hedayatullah Hedayat, who oversees the Taliban’s information access division and has a following of about 187,000. He frequently shares information on the Taliban government.
Abdul Haq Hammad, the director of the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture’s media watchdog, also has a verified account with around 170,000 followers.
Hedayat and Hammad are not the only well-known Taliban sympathisers who now have verified accounts.
Initially, the company had said that its blue tick service will indicate only, ‘noble, active and authentic accounts of public interest,’ which will be verified by it, and could not be purchased.
However, soon after Elon Musk’s takeover, the microblogging site announced its paid ‘verification tick’ available at the price of $8 for android users and $11 for people using the app on Apple devices.
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