Facebook bans Taliban-related content; military coup poses fresh challenge for social media giants

Afghanistan poses a new challenge for US tech giants on handling content related to the Taliban as the militant group is considered to be terrorists by some world governments.

Facebook has said it has banned the Taliban and all content supporting it from its platforms as it considers the group to be a terrorist organisation, even as the Taliban's rapid takeover of Afghanistan poses a new challenge for US tech giants on handling content related to the group.

The militant group is considered to be terrorists by some world governments.

A BBC report quoted a Facebook spokesperson saying, "The Taliban is sanctioned as a terrorist organization under US law and we have banned them from our services under our Dangerous Organization policies. This means we remove accounts maintained by or on behalf of the Taliban and prohibit praise, support, and representation of them."

"We also have a dedicated team of Afghanistan experts, who are native Dari and Pashto speakers and have knowledge of local context, helping to identify and alert us to emerging issues on the platform," the report further added.

However, the Taliban members reportedly continue to use Facebook's end-to-end encrypted messaging service WhatsApp to directly communicate with Afghans despite the company prohibiting it under rules against dangerous organizations.

The company has a dedicated Afghan experts’ team to monitor and remove content linked to the group. The Taliban has used social media to spread its messages for years.

A Reuters report stated that a Facebook Inc spokesperson said the company was closely monitoring the situation in the country and that WhatsApp would take action on any accounts found to be linked with sanctioned organizations in Afghanistan, which could include account removal.

On Twitter Inc, Taliban spokesman with hundreds of thousands of followers have tweeted updates during the country's takeover.

The Taliban’s military coup has frightened the Afghans as it might crack a whip on freedom of speech and human rights, especially women's rights and the country might become a safe haven for global terrorism.

However, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has issued a statement saying they promise to protect Afghans and want peaceful international relations.