The social media platform X appears to have stripped numerous Iranian officials of their blue check marks following questions regarding possible violations of U.S. sanctions against the Islamic republic.
In a report released Thursday, the Tech Transparency Project said that more than two dozen accounts belonging to Iranian officials, government agencies and state-controlled media outlets have been using X’s premium services.
“Because X requires a paid subscription to get premium service, it has likely received revenue from these Iranian individuals and groups — a potential violation of U.S. economic sanctions,” the report says. “X Premium accounts get access to a number of perks, including blue checkmarks and the ability to write longer posts, upload longer videos and share in advertising revenue.”
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The report’s findings were first reported by Wired, which said X did not respond to a request for comment. Yet several hours later, without explanation, X removed blue checks from four of the five accounts the news outlet inquired about. However, accounts that Wired did not flag to X retained their blue check marks.
X did not respond to a request for comment by Straight Arrow News.
Account holders tied to protest crackdown
The Tech Transparency report further says that many of the accounts became verified in August 2025 or later. Some of them have been linked to individuals responsible for the recent violent crackdown on anti-government protests in Iran.
One such account, using the handle @ejei_org, says that it belongs to Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, the head of Iran’s judiciary. Ejei was previously placed under sanctions by the U.S. Treasury Department in September 2010 while serving as Iran’s prosecutor general and minister of intelligence. Ejei was accused by the U.S. of overseeing the arrests, beatings and torture of protesters and political figures the previous year.
In response to recent protests, Ejei shared a post to X on Jan. 5 in which he said: “This time, we will show no mercy to the rioters…”
Subsequent posts from Ejei, as well as those from other Iranian officials, are being made even as the country’s citizens are faced with a government-imposed internet blackout.
Another account highlighted in the report, which has since lost its blue check mark, is said to belong to Ali Larijani, senior aide to Iran’s supreme leader. Larijani’s account, which was created in May 2021 and verified in September 2024, has more than 130,000 followers.
Larijani was hit with sanctions last month for his role as one of the “architects of Iran’s brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters,” according to the Treasury Department.
Aside from Iranian officials, numerous state-run media outlets including the Tasnim News Agency and Press TV had verified accounts on X as well.
The Tech Transparency Project says X owner Elon Musk publicly showed support for Iranian protesters while simultaneously allowing the verified accounts to boost the spread of “Iranian government messages and propaganda about the protests.”
“The fact that Elon Musk is not just platforming these individuals, but taking their money to boost their content through these premium subscriptions and give them extra features also means he’s undermining the sanctions that the U.S. and the Trump administration are actually applying,” Tech Transparency Project Director Katie Paul told Wired.
