"Monetizing Wartime Misinformation: The Dark Side of X"

A report by the Tech Transparency Project reveals that the social media platform X, owned by Elon Musk, has potentially violated U.S. sanctions by accepting payments for subscription accounts from entities barred from doing business in the country, including terrorist organizations and state-run media outlets in Iran and Russia. These subscriptions, costing $8 a month, offer users a blue check mark and better promotion by X’s algorithm. Despite X's official terms of service forbidding payments from sanctioned entities, the report found 28 accounts with the blue check mark from such groups. X and Elon Musk have not responded to requests for comment.