Taliban spokesman accuses Facebook of censorship for banning group; Tech giant responds

In his first-ever press conference on Tuesday, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid ranted about Facebook demeaning the Islamic group’s “right to freedom of speech” as he accused the social media giant of banning them from the public platform. Speaking to the reporters at the Afghan capital, Kabul, the Taliban spokesperson lashed out at Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg saying that the “people that claim to be promoters of free speech” have removed user accounts linked to him after the Islamic movement seized power in the Middle East country. 

Mujahid complained about not being able to post on Facebook as he asked why were the accounts linked to the Taliban banned across social media and that the group could not share anything on Facebook-owned platforms such as Instagram and WhatsApp. The Talibani spokesperson kept lambasting the tech giant as he held a conference at the Afghan government press centre, positioned in the seat previously held by Dawa Khan Meenapal, a spokesman for the Afghan government whom they assassinated earlier last week on Friday. 

In its response to the complaint made by the Taliban spokesperson, Facebook spokesperson, who declined to make personal comments, issued an official statement from the company that provided an explanation about the ban. “The Taliban is sanctioned as a terrorist organisation under US law and they are banned 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,” the statement, obtained by multiple broadcasters, read. 

Elaborating on the curbs imposed on the Taliban across Facebook, the company said that it had a dedicated team of Afghanistan experts in place that are native Dari and Pashto, speakers. These members were aware of the nature of the content being shared on the platform and have knowledge of local context, adding that content regulation lawfully adheres to the platform.

Insta removing 'dangerous' Taliban linked content

“Facebook does not make decisions about the recognized government in any particular country but instead respects the authority of the international community in making these determinations,” the social media giant’s statement read. FB went on to add, that regardless of who holds power, the platform is bound to take action against all accounts that violate the company’s community standards or the rules and regulations. Meanwhile the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri told Bloomberg that the platform was proactively removing dangerous content related to the Taliban. 

(IMAGE: AP/Unsplash/Representative Image)