Weapons dealers in Yemen are using the social media platform X to sell military equipment to willing buyers, according to a report by The Times.
The London-based newspaper found that many of the merchants, including ones with verified profiles, are engaging in the trade of Kalashnikov-style assault rifles, grenades, handguns, projectile launchers, and various other small arms.
The proprietors are reportedly operating in areas controlled by the Houthi militias, leading experts to conclude that they could not be participating in the illicit commerce without the permission of the Tehran-backed terrorist organization.
The Times noted that the advertisements breach X’s terms of service and are likely in violation of United States sanctions imposed on the rebel group responsible for a ten-month campaign of attacks targeting Israel and the region's shipping industry.
Although X did not respond for a comment on the matter, Edmund Fitton-Brown, the former British ambassador to the embattled nation, described the sales as “clear material support for terrorism,” while stating that “X has a lamentable history of failing to police itself properly against extremists [and] this is a problem that has clearly got worse since Twitter became X.”
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