Taliban announce plans to block access to Facebook
World
Rights activists condemn the move
(Web Desk) - The Taliban in Afghanistan have announced plans to restrict or completely block access to Facebook, a move condemned by rights activists.
The Taliban’s acting minister of telecommunications and information technology Najibullah Haqqani confirmed the plans in an interview with Kabul-based TOLO News last week.
Reeling from two decades of siege and war, millions of people in Afghanistan have limited access to cellular services and internet connection in a widening information blackout.
The authorities have already banned education and work for girls and women, formal education institutions, entertainment through music, salon and grooming services, and the presence of women in national parks, public spaces and parks.
The decision to restrict or block Facebook in Afghanistan will be a “further blow to freedom of information” in the war-battered country, the CPJ said.
It also pointed to detention of journalists in Afghanistan, closure of Afghan news websites and the restricting of access to foreign media outlets.
CPJ’s Asia programme coordinator Beh Lih Yi condemned the latest plan by the Taliban’s caretaker regime.
“Social media platforms, including Facebook, have helped to fill a void left by the decline of the Afghan media industry since the Taliban’s August 2021 takeover and the ensuing crackdown on press freedom.
The proposed ban highlights the worsening censorship by the Taliban,” she said.
The CPJ pointed out that Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms in Afghanistan for disseminating news and information in the country.
TOLO alone has more than 4.5 million followers on Facebook.
Just a day after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021 after the fall of Kabul, Facebook had said it would continue to ban Taliban content from its platforms, calling the group a terrorist organisation.
