Tech giants to continue ban on Taliban after its rise in Afghanistan

Facebook and TikTok said on Tuesday they will continue the ban on content promoting Taliban after the group took control of Afghanistan.

CNBC reported that Facebook said a team of content moderators are monitoring and removing posts, images, videos and other content related to the Taliban.

A Facebook spokesperson told CNBC: “The Taliban is sanctioned as a terrorist organization under U.S. law and we have banned them from our services under our Dangerous Organization policies.”

The spokesperson said Taliban has been banned from Facebook for several years. Facebook said it removes accounts run by Taliban and the ones which supports or praises them.

TikTok also said it identifies Taliban as a terrorist organization and will continue to remove content supporting the group, reported CNBC.

The ban from Facebook on Taliban applies to Instagram and WhatsApp as well but due to end-to-end encryption on the chat platform, some reports suggest that Taliban are still using WhatsApp.

CNBC reported that a Twitter spokesperson said, “The situation in Afghanistan is rapidly evolving. We’re also witnessing people in the country using Twitter to seek help and assistance. Twitter’s top priority is keeping people safe, and we remain vigilant.”

“We will continue to proactively enforce our rules and review content that may violate Twitter rules, specifically policies against glorification of violence, platform manipulation and spam,” the spokesperson added.

(With inputs from CNBC)

Picture Credits: CNBC