Facebook Bans The Taliban

Facebook will ban the Taliban and related content from its platforms as it says the group is a terrorist organisation. The company says it has a dedicated team of Afghan experts to monitor and remove content linked to the group. 

Facebook’s ban applies across platforms the social media giant operates, including Instagram and WhatsApp. But WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption on messages makes that more challenging. 

For years, the Taliban has used social media to spread its messages and the Taliban's rapid takeover of Afghanistan poses a new challenge for big US tech companies on handling content created by a group considered to be terrorists by some world governments
 
Taliban members have reportedly continued to use Facebook's end-to-end encrypted messaging service WhatsApp to communicate directly with Afghanis despite the company prohibiting it under rules against dangerous organisations. A Facebook 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 organisations in Afghanistan, which could include account removal.
"The Taliban is sanctioned as a terrorist organisation under US law and we have banned them from our services under our Dangerous Organisation policies... This means we remove accounts maintained by or on behalf of the Taliban and prohibit praise, support, and representation of them," a Facebook spokesperson told the BBC.

The social media giant said it does not make decisions about the recognition of national governments but instead follows the "authority of the international community".

Facebook told the BBC that it would take action if it found accounts on the app to be linked to the group. Rival social media platforms have also come under scrutiny over how they handle Taliban-related content. Taliban spokesmen have used Twitter to update their hundreds of thousands of followers, as the organisation retook control of Afghanistan.

Facebook and its platforms are not the only ones used by the Taliban to spread its messages. Notably, Twitter has come under fire for giving a platform to the spokespersons of the Taliban to update their hundreds of thousands of followers as they took control of different regions of Afghanistan. In response to BBC questions about the Taliban's use of Twitter, a company spokesperson highlighted policies against violent organisations and hateful conduct. According to its rules, Twitter does not allow groups that promote terrorism or violence against civilians.

The Taliban is not sanctioned as a terrorist organisation by the US State Department, nor is it proscribed by the UK or EU, although it has historically been sanctioned by Canada, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates. The organisation is considered a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entity by the US Treasury department, which means financial transactions with the group are prohibited.

It is not clear whether this designation will be upheld nor if Facebook could legitimately refuse the Taliban a governmental presence if its control of Afghanistan becomes internationally recognised.

Sky:    BBC:       Geo.TV:      Kalinga.TV:      RTE:    Independent:      India Today:       OPIndia:      The Hill: 

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