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X has allowed dozens of sanctioned individuals and groups to pay for its premium service, according to a <\/a> from the Tech Transparency Project (TTP). The report raises questions about whether X is running afoul of US sanctions.<\/p>\n The report found 28 verified accounts belonging to people and groups the US government considers to be a national security threat. The group includes two leaders of Hezbollah, accounts associated with Houthis in Yemen and state-run media accounts from Iran and Russia. Of those, 18 of the accounts were verified after X began charging for verification last spring.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that X requires users to pay a monthly or annual fee for premium service suggests that X is engaging in financial transactions with these accounts, a potential violation of U.S. sanctions,\u201d the report says. As the TTP points out, X\u2019s <\/a> state that sanctioned individuals are prohibited from paying for premium services. Some of the accounts identified by the TTP also had ads in their replies, <\/a> the group, \u201craising the possibility that they could be profiting from X\u2019s revenue-sharing program.\u201d<\/p>\n Changing up Twitter\u2019s verification policy was one of the most significant changes implemented by Elon Musk after he took over the company. Under the new rules, anyone can pay for a blue checkmark if they subscribe to X Premium. X doesn\u2019t require users to submit identification, and the company has at times <\/a> to shut down impersonators.<\/p>\n X also offers gold checkmarks to advertisers as part of its \u201cverified organizations\u201d tier, which starts at $200 a month. The TTP report found that accounts belonging to Iran\u2019s Press TV and Russia\u2019s Tinkoff Bank \u2014 both sanctioned entities \u2014 had gold checks. X has also <\/a> gold checks to at least 10,000 companies. As the report points out, even giving away the gold badge to sanctioned groups could violate US government policies.<\/p>\n X didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment, but it appears that the company has removed verification from some of the accounts named in the TTP\u2019s report. \u201cX, formerly known as Twitter, has removed the blue check and suspended the paid subscriptions of several Iranian outlets,\u201d Press TV tweeted from its account, which still has a gold check. The Hezbollah leaders\u2019 accounts are also no longer verified.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n