X Strips Blue Badges from Senior Iranian Officials Following Report on Sanctions Violations
Social media platform X has removed verification badges from accounts belonging to several senior Iranian officials and state-run media entities. The action follows a report by the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) which alleged that the platform was providing paid premium services to individuals and organizations currently under United States sanctions, potentially violating federal law.
The scrutiny began when the TTP published findings indicating that X, owned by Elon Musk, was accepting payments for “X Premium” subscriptions from accounts designated by the U.S. Treasury. Under the current platform structure, blue and gold checkmarks primarily signify a paid subscription rather than identity verification. The report highlighted that accounts associated with verified Iranian leaders and state media outlets, such as Press TV, were displaying these badges. U.S. sanctions law generally prohibits American companies from engaging in financial transactions with entities on the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list.
This incident underscores the complex legal landscape created by X’s pivot from “legacy verification”—which vetted the identity of notable figures for free—to a paid subscription model. Under the previous administration, badges were intended to prevent impersonation of high-profile figures, including world leaders, regardless of diplomatic status. However, the modern “X Premium” service is a commercial product offering algorithmic amplification and additional features in exchange for a monthly fee. Legal experts suggest that while hosting an account for a sanctioned individual might fall under free speech or informational exemptions, accepting payment from them for premium services likely constitutes a violation of Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) regulations.
While X has removed the badges from the identified accounts following the report, the company has not issued an official statement regarding the oversight. Proponents of open platforms argue that automated payment systems make it difficult to screen every subscriber against sanctions lists in real-time. However, critics point to the significant reduction in X’s trust and safety teams over the past year as a contributing factor, arguing that the lack of human oversight allows sanctioned entities to bypass restrictions that were previously strictly enforced. The swift removal of the badges suggests the platform is moving to mitigate legal exposure, even as it maintains silence on the internal failures that allowed the transactions to occur.
