Terrorists Getting Premium Perks on X, and Updates to Abortion Pill + Stablecoin Stories

U.S.-Sanctioned Terrorists Benefit from X Premium Accounts

The latest report from CfA’s Tech Transparency Project (TTP) revealed that accounts for key figures in al-Qaida, Hezbollah, the Houthis and other U.S.-sanctioned entities are obtaining paid, premium service on Elon Musk’s X.

Beyond simply having a blue check next to their name, many accounts made specific use of X’s Premium features. Some had an “ID verified” badge, suggesting that X confirmed their identity after they submitted a government-issued ID and a selfie to the company, which are requirements for the badge. Several made use of revenue-generating features offered by X, including a button for tips.

“They rely on the premium services for the amplification of long propaganda posts and extended videos,” TTP director Katie Paul explained to the New York Times. “They are not just subscribing for the blue check notoriety, they are subscribing for the premium services.”

Under federal law, U.S. companies are prohibited from engaging in transactions with individuals or entities under sanctions enforced by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), unless they are licensed or otherwise authorized by the U.S. government. X has explicit policies stating that its premium services—which can be used to generate income for both the company and the user—are off limits to users subject to OFAC sanctions.

TTP first identified sanctioned entities benefiting from premium X services in a February 2024 report, so the fact that these issues persist more than a year later raises serious questions about X’s compliance protocols and adherence to sanctions designed to protect U.S. national interests.

As of a check conducted Friday morning, X does not appear to have taken any action to address the report’s findings.

RFK Bites on Ideological Abortion Pill Study

Last week, we told you about how a new study from right-wing think tank the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) is being pushed by anti-abortion politicians as a new rationale to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone. Based on comments made by Trump’s FDA commissioner around being open to reviewing new information about the drug, we shared in the concern that Trump-era health agencies could use this flawed study as fuel to roll back access to mifepristone.

Well, it only took a few days. On Wednesday, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing that he has asked the FDA to review the EPPC study. When Republican Sen. Josh Hawley pointed out that the study’s claims about the likeliness of suffering adverse medical events after taking mifepristone differs greatly from the FDA label, Kennedy said, “Clearly, it indicates that, at very least, the label should be changed.”

As a reminder, this study has not been peer-reviewed, has not been published in a medical journal, and has faced significant scrutiny already. For the Secretary to seemingly accept the findings’ premise enough—at least directionally—to declare “the label should be changed,” seems to indicate that he already has a preference as to the outcome of the “complete review” that he’s asked the FDA to undertake.

Conflicting Opinions on Stablecoin Bill Revisions

Another update from last week:

Following a last-minute surge of opposition that temporarily halted the stablecoin-regulating GENUIS Act last week, a bi-partisan group of negotiators announced a revised bill that they said would address some of the lawmakers’ concern. In a memo touting the changes, the bill’s proponents said they “strengthened provisions on anti-money laundering, foreign issuers, national security safeguards, consumer protection, and measures to preserve the safety and soundness of our financial system.”

Yet, a dueling set of memos circulated by Sen. Elizabeth Warren—one of the senate’s toughest crypto skeptics—and the Democratic Staff of the Senate Banking Committee (where Warren serves as the ranking member) throw cold water on the claims that the revisions sufficiently address Democratic concerns.

Their analysis says that the revised bill “includes no provisions prohibiting President Trump and his family from lining their pockets through corrupt crypto schemes and accepting payoffs from foreign governments. In fact, the bill will turbocharge this kind of corruption by expanding the reach of President Trump’s USD1 stablecoin and giving him the authority to regulate his own financial product.”

The memo also points out that the revised bill, which would now prohibit “public commercial companies’ ability to issue stablecoins,” fails to account for a company like X, which is privately controlled by Elon Musk.

Altogether, the memo concludes that the revisions are insufficient “to address the central policy concerns raised previously by Democrats.” Of course, Sen. Warren and the staffers behind the memo don’t speak for all Democrats (likely including those who helped negotiated the revisions), so it remains to be seen if these changes will be enough to overcome this latest wave of opposition.

Also this week:

Crypto execs flock to DC to support Senate stablecoin bill

Apple blocks Fortnite App Store resubmission after court ruling, Epic Games says

Meta asks judge to throw out antitrust case mid-trial