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Hezbollah, Iranian media, Yemen's Houthis… Elon Musk has opened the door for those the US would rather forget.
The social network X, owned by Elon Musk, was at the center of a scandal-it is accused of violating US sanctions against a number of countries and companies. This was stated by the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) in its report published on February 14.
According to TTP, verified accounts belonging to individuals and organizations that are under US sanctions were found in X. We are talking about representatives of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, Iran, the Yemeni Houthis and other persona non grata.
In particular, the accounts of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, the Iraqi paramilitary group Harakat al-Nujab, the son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi Saadi, as well as a number of Russian and Iranian state media received paid verifications.
According to TTP experts, the very existence of these accounts in X is legal: "For many years, Twitter and other American Internet platforms allowed individuals and organizations under sanctions to use free accounts, which some lawyers consider permissible under US sanctions legislation," the report says.
However, providing them with paid services can already be considered a violation. To conduct commercial activities with sanctioned companies and individuals, as a rule, special permission from the authorities is required. It is not known whether X received such permission.
US Senator from Virginia, Mark Warner, called on the country's Finance Ministry to toughen penalties for IT companies that violate the sanctions regime. "This latest report on Platform X's non — compliance with sanctions is further evidence that the Treasury Department should immediately tighten the law on providing online goods and services to undesirable individuals," Warner said.
The X security Service, in response to the TTP report, assured that it is studying this issue and "will take the necessary measures". Representatives of the company added that their approach to monetization is "reliable and secure", and all legal obligations are strictly observed.
As noted in TTP, after the publication of their report, all disputed verifications were deleted, and one of the accounts was blocked.
Now the US Treasury Department must decide whether to apply any measures against X and its head, Elon Musk. The agency recalls that the responsibility for compliance with sanctions lies with the American companies and citizens themselves.
The social network X, owned by Elon Musk, was at the center of a scandal-it is accused of violating US sanctions against a number of countries and companies. This was stated by the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) in its report published on February 14.
According to TTP, verified accounts belonging to individuals and organizations that are under US sanctions were found in X. We are talking about representatives of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, Iran, the Yemeni Houthis and other persona non grata.
In particular, the accounts of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, the Iraqi paramilitary group Harakat al-Nujab, the son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi Saadi, as well as a number of Russian and Iranian state media received paid verifications.
According to TTP experts, the very existence of these accounts in X is legal: "For many years, Twitter and other American Internet platforms allowed individuals and organizations under sanctions to use free accounts, which some lawyers consider permissible under US sanctions legislation," the report says.
However, providing them with paid services can already be considered a violation. To conduct commercial activities with sanctioned companies and individuals, as a rule, special permission from the authorities is required. It is not known whether X received such permission.
US Senator from Virginia, Mark Warner, called on the country's Finance Ministry to toughen penalties for IT companies that violate the sanctions regime. "This latest report on Platform X's non — compliance with sanctions is further evidence that the Treasury Department should immediately tighten the law on providing online goods and services to undesirable individuals," Warner said.
The X security Service, in response to the TTP report, assured that it is studying this issue and "will take the necessary measures". Representatives of the company added that their approach to monetization is "reliable and secure", and all legal obligations are strictly observed.
As noted in TTP, after the publication of their report, all disputed verifications were deleted, and one of the accounts was blocked.
Now the US Treasury Department must decide whether to apply any measures against X and its head, Elon Musk. The agency recalls that the responsibility for compliance with sanctions lies with the American companies and citizens themselves.
