Congressman Goldman, Oversight Committee Ranking Member Raskin Call for Oversight Hearing on Alarming Reports that X is Selling Premium Services to Terrorist Groups

X, Formerly Twitter, May Be Violating U.S. Law by Facilitating Financial Transactions from Terrorist Organizations and Other U.S.-Sanctioned Entities, Including Hezbollah, Iranian News Outlets, and Russian State Media

Read the Letter Here

Washington, DC – Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) and Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability Jamie Raskin (MD-08) called on Oversight Chairman James Comer (KY-01) to hold a congressional hearing to examine troubling reports indicating that X (formerly Twitter) is selling its Premium services to U.S.-designated terrorist groups and sanctioned entities.

“[T]his raises significant concerns that X may be violating U.S. sanctions law by facilitating financial transactions from terrorist organizations and other entities sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury, including senior leaders of Hezbollah, Iranian news outlets, and Russian state media. [...] If these new allegations prove to be true, these transactions would not only violate U.S. sanctions law, but also pose a national security threat.  We hope Committee Republicans share our concern for potential sanctions violations, aligning with our common goal of combating corruption and prioritizing national security,” the members wrote.

On February 14, 2024, the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) published a report identifying nearly two dozen “blue checkmark” accounts linked to U.S.-sanctioned entities.  This included Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and the terrorist group’s deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem, both of whom are listed as “Specially Designated Nationals,” (SDNs) under the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).  Further, the terrorist leader, Nasrallah, apparently received Premium subscription services from X, and Nasrallah’s X account was “ID verified,” which would have required him to send an image of a government-issued ID and a selfie to X, confirming that the X user was in fact Nasrallah.

TTP also identified numerous accounts of other U.S.-sanctioned entities, such as those belonging to Iran’s Press TV and Russia’s Tinkoff Bank, with gold checkmarks—a signifier of X’s “Verified Organization” status which, until January 2, 2024, cost a minimum $1,000 per month.

Additionally, it appears that some of these sanctioned entities may have received advertising revenue from X. The social media company’s policy allows users who pay for Premium services to receive a share of the revenue generated from advertisements displayed in replies to the user’s posts and, according to the TTP report, nearly 70% of the identified accounts featured advertisements in replies to posts.

“If X provided any of these accounts revenue as part of its advertisement revenue sharing policy, it would have violated U.S. law by conducting financial transactions with sanctioned entities.  X’s public response to TTP’s reporting was insufficient and alarming.  Shortly after the publication of the TTP report, X’s Safety account made multiple statements that conflict with X’s own policies on purchasing Premium,” the members concluded.

Read the letter here or below:

Dear Chairman Comer,

We write urging you to hold a congressional hearing to examine reports indicating that X (formally Twitter) is selling its Premium services to U.S.-designated terrorist groups and sanctioned entities. If true, this raises significant concerns that X may be violating U.S. sanctions law by facilitating financial transactions from terrorist organizations and other entities sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury, including senior leaders of Hezbollah, Iranian news outlets, and Russian state media.

On February 14, 2024, the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) published a report identifying nearly two dozen “blue checkmark” accounts linked to U.S.-sanctioned entities. This included Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and the terrorist group’s deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem, both of whom are listed as “Specially Designated Nationals,” (SDNs) under the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Transactions with SDNs are prohibited absent a license granted from OFAC. TTP also identified numerous accounts of other U.S.-sanctioned entities, such as those belonging to Iran’s Press TV and Russia’s Tinkoff Bank, with gold checkmarks—a signifier of X’s “Verified Organization” status which, until January 2, 2024, cost a minimum $1,000 per month. Further, the X account for Nasrallah was “ID verified,” which would have required him to send an image of a government-issued ID and a selfie to X, confirming that the X user was in fact Nasrallah. An “ID verified” user receives additional benefits, including prioritized support from X Services. Following the TTP report, X removed Nasrallah’s blue check and shortly after, the Nasrallah account tweeted, “Anyone knows [sic] why the premium subscriptions were cancelled? It is very annoying when the amount of words required to express your thoughts are limited to a number.” This tweet suggests that the terrorist leader received Premium subscription services from X, which allows for users to post more than 280 characters.

Additionally, it appears that some of these sanctioned entities may have potentially received advertising revenue from X. X policy allows users who pay for Premium services to receive a share of the revenue generated from advertisements displayed in replies to the user’s posts and, according to the TTP report, nearly 70% of the identified accounts featured advertisements in replies to posts. If X provided any of these accounts revenue as part of its advertisement revenue sharing policy, it would have violated U.S. law by conducting financial transactions with sanctioned entities.

X’s public response to TTP’s reporting was insufficient and alarming. Shortly after the publication of the TTP report, X’s Safety account made multiple statements that conflict with X’s own policies on purchasing Premium. For example, X asserted that some of the accounts listed in the TTP report, “may have visible account check marks without receiving any services that would be subject to sanctions.” However, as highlighted above, at least one of these accounts received a Premium service in the form of longer posts. X’s policy also states that accounts must pay for a Premium subscription to receive a blue or gold check mark, and users “may not purchase X Premium if you are a person with whom X is not permitted to have dealings under U.S. and any other applicable economic sanctions and trade compliance law.” Further, “X Purchaser Terms of Service” makes it clear that this includes sanctioned entities, stating that users may not purchase or use a paid service if they are “a person with whom U.S. persons are not permitted to have dealings pursuant to economic sanctions, including, without limitation, sanctions administered by the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control or any other applicable sanctions authority.” It is unclear why these accounts would have received Premium account status, given X’s stated prohibitions against it.

This is not the first time X has failed to enforce its own policies with respect to profiting from prohibited persons on the platform. On November 21, 2023, we sent a letter to Elon Musk and X Chief Executive Officer Linda Yaccarino demanding answers for the platform’s failure to abide by its own policies governing the promotion of violent and terroristic Hamas propaganda videos in the weeks and months following the group’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Reports from TTP and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue found that X profited from the spread of this gruesome and harmful propaganda through account subscription fees and advertisement revenue. In exchange for those subscription fees, blue checkmark accounts promoting Hamas propaganda received Premium benefits, including priority placement in conversations and the ability to generate a share of revenue from advertisements.

In response to our request for information, X sent a wholly unsatisfactory explanation. X failed to acknowledge our concerns regarding the role of X Premium services in the amplification and spread of this content, including the revenue that X has reaped from these subscriptions. X also failed to acknowledge that it was providing Premium services to designated terrorist organizations and sanctioned individuals, in violation of U.S. law.

If these new allegations prove to be true, these transactions would not only violate U.S. sanctions law, but also pose a national security threat. We hope Committee Republicans share our concern for potential sanctions violations, aligning with our common goal of combating corruption and prioritizing national security. As such, we request that you commit to swiftly holding a hearing to examine this matter.

###