Elon Musk’s X/Twitter appears to have removed verified checkmarks from Iranian government accounts last Wednesday in the wake of the regime’s unprecedented crackdown on protestors and the US sanctions it faces.

A WIRED report last week cited the watchdog Tech Transparency Project (TTP), which described more than “two dozen” Iranian government-affiliated accounts, including politicians, government agencies, and media outlets, all verified with X’s blue checkmark. Being verified on X costs over $8 a month and includes perks such as increased reach and visibility. 

A critic of the Iranian regime, X owner Elon Musk has shown support for the recent protests, in which up to tens of thousands of protestors have been killed according to some counts. Following the government’s nationwide shutdown of the internet, the Wall Street Journal reported last week that the US government smuggled in roughly 6,000 Starlink terminals into Iran during the recent unrest.

Earlier in January, X removed the emoji of the current Iranian flag, replacing it with the pre-revolution Lion and Sun flag. The unannounced change led to several pro-regime accounts inadvertently displaying the previous flag for hours. 

Still, TTP director Katie Paul accused the tech mogul of giving a voice to the regime as well as counteracting American sanctions on the nation.

“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 US and the Trump administration are actually applying,” she told WIRED.

After reporting the accounts to X, WIRED reports that several blue checkmarks were removed from Iranian government accounts. Accounts affected include Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran Ali Larijani, as well as other individuals sanctioned by the Treasury Department.

According to the terms of an exemption of the sanctions against Iranian regime members, American tech companies are allowed to platform sanctioned individuals as long as there is no payment involved.

“It is not possible to know if there was a violation without knowing the specific details of the arrangement between X and the various sanctioned users,” lawyer Oliver Krischik, an expert on sanctions, told WIRED. “However, if X provided these ‘blue check marks’ to the Iranian government for a fee or provided services to the Iranian government not available to the public at no extra cost without a license, then that would appear to fall outside the authorization.”