ALBAWABA - With the ongoing clashes happening in Latakia, Syria, Musk's X (formerly known as Twitter) recently removed all the blue checkmarks for accounts related to the Syrian government without providing a reason behind the platform's actions.
Several accounts were affected on X including the Presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, the Prime Minister's Office, and more. Several social media users took to several platforms in speculation and debate about the reason behind such actions.
X removes all checkmarks from Syrian government accounts
Many claimed that it's as simple as that the Syrian government could've forgotten to pay for verification which resulted in the removal of the accounts' blue checkmarks. According to X's terms and conditions, if the account stops paying for its monthly blue checkmark verification, the mark will be removed.
An Instagram user wrote, "The reason is simple, this is a paid service and the Syrian Government should pay a monthly subscription. I guess they didn't pay attention and lost their privileges."
Several others pointed out that the action might've been taken in response to the recent clashes between Syria's forces and what remains of the Assad regime military which resulted in the killing of thousands.
This handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syrian civil defence members and first responders rescuing a victim from the site of an explosion in Syria's western coastal city of Latakia on March 15, 2025. (Photo by SANA / AFP)
Recently, Syria's Latakia faced an explosion that destroyed a four-story building in the Al-Raml Al-Janoubi neighborhood leaving at least 10 dead, and 14 injured including a child, according to Anadolu.
The Syrian Civil Defense took to X and wrote, "The bodies of a child and a man have been recovered from under the rubble of the collapsed residential building in Al-Raml Al-Janoubi neighborhood in Latakia, following an explosion in a scrap shop beneath the building."
