The dilemma of Taliban social media

“This question should be asked of those people who claim to be promoters of freedom of expression, who do not allow all information to be published,” said group spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. dit. “I can do Facebook. … That question should be asked.”
The response, which implied that Facebook was curbing freedom of speech, hinted at a curious power dynamic: even as the Taliban push for U.S. forces to leave the country, it remains dependent on U.S. social media companies. how Facebook (FB) i Twitter (TWTR) to get their message across, both within Afghanistan and outside its borders. On Twitter, for example, several Taliban spokesmen included Mujahid i Suhail Shaheen, have unverified active accounts, each with over 300,000 followers.

But many of these platforms, including Facebook and its subsidiary WhatsApp, have said they will crack down on Taliban-run accounts or promote them. The Taliban’s efforts to back down or circumvent restrictions on its online activities illustrate the confidence the militant group has become in Western technology companies and the Internet in general – and highlight a possible investment by the group’s government. decades ago, when he directly banned the Internet.

“All in all, various social media platforms and messaging apps have played a vital role in the Taliban’s media strategy,” said Weeda Mehran, a professor and expert in Afghanistan at the University of Exeter who focuses on propaganda of extremist groups.

These platforms are now serving an important purpose for the Taliban as they regain control of Afghanistan. So far, much of the group’s focus has been on cultivating a more sanitized and rehabilitated image than the brutality that was last known when he was in power. And he sees platforms like Facebook and Twitter as keys to that effort, both inside and outside the country, according to Safiya Ghori-Ahmad, director of political consulting firm McLarty Associates and a former adviser to the State Department in Afghanistan.

“The Taliban are really trying to change their narrative and they are really trying to change the way they see them,” he said. “And so I think you’re seeing this change now. It has a lot to do with the huge use of smartphones and the fact that many in Afghanistan now have smartphones … They’ve realized that you can use this technology platforms to really spread your message. “

From imposing bans on the Internet to dodging them

The Taliban’s current approach to media and technology contrasts sharply with when it was at the forefront of the 1990s and early 2000s. goal “to control all those things that are wrong, obscene, immoral and against Islam.”

Mehran says the online presence of the Taliban in its current form really began after he was ousted from power in 2001, when the militant group began posting videos and sharing messages online. Since then, he has enthusiastically adopted platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Telegram, none of which existed during his last period in power.

This embrace has coincided with an increase in Internet use in Afghanistan over the past decade. In 2019, the country had about 10 million internet users and about 23 million mobile phone users, with 89% of Afghans able to access telecommunications services, according to the latest available figures from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies of the country. According to the ministry, Facebook Messenger alone has about 3 million users in Afghanistan.

As a result, instead of imposing bans on the Internet, the Taliban are trying to avoid them, at least for now.

How social media faces the Taliban’s acquisition
While the U.S. government and the world community are deliberating to what extent they will recognize the militant group as the official government of Afghanistan, some Silicon Valley companies have taken matters into their own hands.
Earlier this month, Facebook reiterated its long-standing ban on the Taliban on all its platforms, including Instagram and WhatsApp, according to which the latter closed a Taliban helpline in Kabul and several other Taliban accounts.

“The Taliban are sanctioned as a terrorist organization in accordance with US law and we have banned them from our services in accordance with our dangerous organization policies,” a Facebook spokesman said. A WhatsApp spokesman declined to comment specifically on the ban on the helpline, but said it was “required to comply with U.S. sanctions laws,” which includes banning accounts that appear to be represented as official Taliban accounts “.

YouTube said it will continue to “finish” Taliban-run accounts. Twitter has not actively banned Taliban accounts, but a company spokesman said its “top priority is to keep people safe and that we are vigilant.”

Taliban fighters stand guard along a street in Kabul on August 16, 2021.

“I think at the end of the day, [the Taliban] i don’t want the internet banned. I don’t think they want YouTube to leave the country, I don’t think they want Google to withdraw, I don’t think they want Facebook or Twitter to just pack up and leave, ”Ghori-Ahmad said.

The relationship between the Taliban and technology platforms can be further complicated if the Taliban receive official recognition from the global diplomatic community, a determination that largely depends on the form the Afghan government now takes.

“If the Taliban allow for an inclusive government, and they … being part of that government, they have essentially gained their legitimacy in Afghanistan, for lack of a better word, because there will be other groups represented,” he said. Mehran. If that happens, it may be harder for Facebook and YouTube to justify keeping the militant group off the platform.

An uncertain future for online expression

The real test of the Taliban’s approach to the Internet may not be what the group says, but what the Afghan people say.

There has already been a barrage of dissent in line with protest videos on the streets of Kabul and conditions in the Afghan capital that is widely shared on social media. But if this dissent continues to grow, the Taliban could be more aggressive in curbing Internet access for people it hopes to govern.

“Looking to the future, the Taliban will surely want to use the technology for their own propaganda and propaganda purposes. But now that it has taken over Afghanistan, it will most likely want to restrict access to social media to Afghan people in their attempt to reduce their access to information, “said Madiha Afzal, a partner in the Brookings Institution’s foreign policy program. “Platforms like Twitter and WhatsApp will have to figure out how to deal with Taliban propaganda, although they are trying to ensure that Afghans retain access to these platforms if the Taliban try to restrict access to them.”

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At the same time, the Taliban insist that online content must comply with Islamic law, which experts say could only add to the challenge facing platforms to try to continue operating in the country. “I think it’s going to be a really complicated and delicate balance for a lot of these tech companies to figure out how to navigate this market,” Ghori-Ahmad said.

On August 17, 2021, Taliban fighters guarded a front door in front of the Interior Ministry in Kabul.

Beyond that, there is already a widespread fear that the Taliban could use social media in a more sinister way: search for and pick up Afghans who worked with the U.S. government or military.

Last week, Facebook introduced a one-click tool to allow its Afghan users to block their profiles and introduced pop-up alerts on Instagram in Afghanistan to detail how to protect the account, said Nathaniel Gleicher, head of policy company security. series of tweets. “We are working closely with our industry, civil society and government counterparts to provide all possible support to help protect people,” Gleicher said.

Twitter is working with the Internet Archive to respond to user requests to remove old tweets and has offered the option to temporarily suspend accounts in case Afghan users cannot access them to delete content. LinkedIn said it has “taken some temporary measures such as limiting the visibility of connections and helping members in the country understand how they can hide their profiles in public view.”

And while the Taliban have tried to project a more moderate image in the days after regaining control, there are no guarantees that they will last, especially when U.S. forces leave the country later this month. After that, it may only be a matter of time before Afghans begin to lose the ability to use social media to talk.

“If the Taliban keep quiet about this and if that’s not accessible to them, that should say a lot to tech companies about the Taliban,” Mehran said, “and they should take that into account when they want to decide whether the Taliban … ‘ls should be allowed to have a presence on these platforms “.

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