The Taliban have started buying up the «blue ticks» on Twitter

The Taliban government has signed up to a paid Twitter verification service, which means some accounts now have a blue tick. So far, two Taliban officials and four of the movement's main supporters in Afghanistan have been ticked, the BBC reported.

Previously, the blue tick indicated Twitter's confirmed "active, known and genuine public interest accounts" and was not available for purchase.

But after billionaire Elon Musk bought the social media platform for $65 billion last October, the verification system has changed and users can now buy them through the new Twitter Blue service.

The head of the Taliban's "use of information" Hedayatullah Hidayat now has this ticked. His account has 187,000 followers and posts information about the Taliban government. Abdul Haq Hammad, a senior official in Afghanistan's Ministry of Information and Culture, also has a blue tick on his account and has 170,000 followers.

The Taliban's presence on Twitter has been the subject of heated debate over the years.