Taliban to ban Facebook

topic:	Freedom of Expression
located:	Afghanistan
editor:	Shadi Khan Saif

Following their crackdown on independent media in Afghanistan, the Taliban now seeks to limit free speech on social media.

The de facto authorities’ Communication and Information Minister Najibullah Haqqani announced the plan to block Facebook in the country. In an interview with local broadcaster Tolo News, he said: “Our youth are in a situation where they are academically weak, and the majority of them are illiterate, yet they continue to waste their time and spend money on [social media] to the benefit of the company and the detriment of the nation.”

This demonstrates a clear pattern of erosion of liberties and free speech since the fall of the Afghan Republic in August 2021. Since then, up to 50% of Afghan media outlets have disappeared owing to the restrictive tactics of the Taliban and a drastic decline in funding.

According to estimates from Reporters Without Borders, of the 10,780 people working in Afghan newsrooms (8,290 men and 2,490 women) at the beginning of August 2021, just 4,360 remained in December (3,950 men and 410 women), or four out of ten journalists.

Proportionally, women have been much more affected: more than four in five (84 per cent) have lost their jobs since the arrival of the Taliban, whereas only one in two men have (52 per cent).

Most of the international broadcasters like the BBC, VOA and the Deutsche Welle, who have the liberty to be critical of the Taliban, are subject to immense blockades inside Afghanistan. The few media outlets still managing to survive inside Afghanistan are operating under immense pressure and have to self-censor to avoid backlash from the Taliban.

The Committee to Protect Journalists raised concerns about this matter.

Social media platforms are the only available channels with little freedom for the exchange of ideas and views where journalists and common citizens have been engaging while keeping their identities concealed for obvious reasons of threats from the Taliban. Few individuals with a little bit of technical know-how might be able to navigate through the ban. Still, any outright ban on social media would cut off masses from all channels of digital freedom, leaving them locked inside a bubble of ignorance and oppression.

Image by Simon.

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