Old Habits, New Name: Terror Groups Still Spreading Propaganda On X (Formerly Twitter)

You know what they say about how people living in glass houses should never throw rocks. Elon Musk needs a lesson or two in that. After criticizing the Treasury Department for lacking the “basic controls” to stop payments to terrorist organizations, Musk’s X platform is now being accused of accepting payments from terrorist groups.

Accepting payments from terrorist groups

This is according to a recent report from the Tech Transparency Project, which found that X is accepting payments from terrorist groups that grant them access to premium features. These would have enabled them to raise funds and spread their propaganda generated with Grok, X’s AI chatbot.

The report names groups including Houthi rebels, Hezbollah, and Hamas, as well as other groups from Syria, Kuwait, and Iran. Some of these groups have even managed to amass hundreds of thousands of followers. They are now spreading their word by boosting their reach through payments to X.

X could argue that anyone can subscribe to its premium and boosting features. Currently, X Premium costs $8 a month. Premium+ goes for $40 a month. This is a pittance for these groups, considering the reach they would get. Subscription to Premium or Premium+ allows users to share longer text or videos, create communities, and accept gifts.

It happened in the era of Twitter without Musk

That said, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened. Back when X was still Twitter and before Musk bought it, the platform allowed US-sanctioned individuals and groups to use it—but only with free accounts. Legal experts say that’s allowed under US sanctions law. But now that X offers paid services like Premium and Premium+, things get a lot more complicated.

The report also claims that there is no indication that X has applied for or received a license to do business with groups sanctioned by the US government. This is also not the first time the Tech Transparency Project has found that X has allowed terrorist accounts on its platform.

The first time, X responded swiftly and removed checkmarks from the accounts mentioned in the report. However, this new report suggests that X’s previous actions were short-lived. What makes this even more alarming is the fact that X cannot deny it does not know about these accounts.

The company claims to have “a robust and secure approach” to block sanctioned groups from accessing paid features. Some of these accounts are also “ID verified,” meaning that X has conducted an additional review to confirm their identity. That said, X still hasn’t responded to the latest report, so we’ll have to wait and see how they handle it.