TWITTER IS NOW OFFERING A NEW ANNUAL PLAN TO PAY FOR ITS BLUE CHECKMARK, A TOOL ONCE USED TO IDENTIFY VERIFIED ACCOUNTS OF IMPORTANT PUBLIC FIGURES.

TWITTER BLUE IS ELON MUSK’S CONTROVERSIAL PLAN TO CHARGE FOR THE CHECKMARK. IT RUFFLED SOME FEATHERS WHEN HE FIRST PROPOSED IT, BUT THERE IS ONE GROUP THAT WELCOMED THE CHANCE TO PAY FOR THE CHECK MARK ALMOST IMMEDIATELY. THE TALIBAN.

DESPITE THE FACT THE U.S. CONSIDERS THE TALIBAN A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION, AND THE LONGEST WAR IN U.S. HISTORY WAS AGAINST THED SAME GROUP, LEADERS AND LOW-LEVEL MEMBERS OF THE TALIBAN HAVE ALWAYS LOVED USING THE U.S. BASED SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM. THE TALIBAN USES THE 21^ST CENTURY TOOL TO SPREAD ITS MESSAGE WHILE ADVOCATING FOR THE RETURN OF ANCIENT AND BARBARIC SOCIAL CUSTOMS, LIKE BEHEADING “NON-BELIEVERS.”

UNTIL RECENTLY, AT LEAST TWO TALIBAN OFFICIALS HAD TWITTER’S BLUE CHECKMARK NEXT TO THEIR NAMES. HEDAYATULLAH HEDAYAT, THE HEAD OF THE TALIBAN’S DEPARTMENT FOR ACCESS TO INFORMATION, AND ABDUL HAQ HAMMAD FROM THE AFGHAN MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND CULTURE. TWITTER HAS SINCE REMOVED THE MARKS FROM EACH ACCOUNT AFTER MOUNTING PUBLIC CRITICISM.

TWITTER BLUE’S BASE PRICE IS 8 BUCKS A MONTH. APPLE USERS PAY 11. A NEW DEAL FROM MUSK NOW GIVES CUSTOMERS A DISCOUNT IF THEY PAY BY THE YEAR. ACCORDING TO TWITTER, SUBSCRIBERS TO TWITTER BLUE GET PRIORITY RANKING IN SEARCH, MENTIONS AND REPLIES TO HELP FIGHT SPAM AND BOTS.

FOR MORE STORIES ABOUT TWITTER, TWITTER BLUE OR THE TALIBAN’S RULE IN AFGHANISTAN, GO TO STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS DOT COM, WHERE WE DELIVER UNBIASED, STRAIGHT FACTS.