a couple of top Taliban officials and four supporters of the current regime in Afghanistan had managed to get their accounts verified and eligible for a blue tick subscription Image Courtesy AFP
Kabul: After reports emerged that the Taliban has started buying blue ticks on Twitter, the social media platform has now decided to revoke the paid-for verification feature allotted to members of the current Afghanistan administration.
The purchase of Twitter blue ticks by Taliban officials had sparked a major controversy with a host of users voicing their concerns on the micro-blogging social media platform. The row prompted Twitter to revoke the paid-for verification option several hours later.
According to a BBC report, a couple of top Taliban officials and four supporters of the current regime in Afghanistan had managed to get their accounts verified and eligible for a blue tick subscription.
These included Hedayatullah Hedayat, who heads the department for access to information in the Afghan Taliban administration.
Another Taliban leader Abdul Haq Hammad, who oversees the media watchdog in Afghanistan’s Ministry of Information and Culture, had also managed to acquire a Twitter blue tick.
Hedayatullah Hedayat has around 187,000 followers on Twitter, while Abdul Haq Hammad boasts of almost 170,000.
Apart from them, several other prominent supporters of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan have managed to bag verified accounts on Twitter.
Twitter had initially declared that blue tick accounts could not be purchased and will be allotted only after verification. The social media giant had also claimed that a Twitter blue tick was intended to indicate “noble, active and authentic accounts of public interest.”
However, after his takeover, Elon Musk had put Twitter blue ticks on sale, charging $8 from android users and $11 from those with Apple devices.
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