Facebook confirmed on Monday that it designates the Taliban a terrorist group and bans the group, and any content supporting it, from its platforms.
The ban has not shut the Taliban out of Facebook’s products. Members have reportedly kept using WhatsApp, the company’s end-to-end encrypted messaging service, to speak directly with people in Afghanistan, even though its rules against dangerous organizations prohibit that. A Facebook spokesperson said the company was closely monitoring the situation and that WhatsApp would act on any account found to be linked to sanctioned organizations in Afghanistan. That could include removing the account.
Twitter stays quiet
On Twitter, Taliban spokesmen with hundreds of thousands of followers have posted updates throughout the takeover. Asked about it, Twitter pointed to its policies against violent organizations and hateful conduct. It did not answer Reuters’ questions about how it makes its classifications. The company’s rules say it does not allow groups that promote terrorism or violence against civilians.
Taliban officials have said they want peaceful international relations and have promised to protect Afghans. The group’s return has also raised fears of a crackdown on free speech and human rights, women’s rights in particular, and of the country becoming a haven again for global terrorism.
Recent precedents
The platforms have already made several hard calls on leaders and governing groups this year. They blocked former U.S. President Donald Trump for inciting violence around the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. They banned Myanmar’s military after the coup there. Facebook, long criticized for failing to combat hate speech in Myanmar, said the coup raised the risk of offline harm and that its history of human rights violations contributed to the ban on the military, known as the Tatmadaw.
Global lawmakers and regulators have attacked the companies for their outsized political and economic influence. In deciding who is allowed on their sites, the companies often lean on state designations or official international recognition. Those same designations help decide who gets verified, who may run official state accounts, and who might get special treatment when breaking the rules because of newsworthiness or public interest exceptions.
