Facebook and TikTok won’t Lift Ban on The Taliban on its Platforms

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The two social media giants Facebook and TikTok have both said Tuesday that they will not lift bans on content that supports the Taliban. The group has taken control of Afghanistan this week. 

According to CNBC, the social media platforms the Afghan group has used Facebook and other social media platforms to promote their projects. Facebook added that it has hired a team of content moderators that will remove images, posts, and videos related to the movement. 

The group took full control of the country over the weekend after seizing the capital of Kabul as well as the Presidential Palace. This came after U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision in April to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan. 

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 added that the Taliban has been banned from the social platform for years. 

 “We also have a dedicated team of Afghanistan experts, who are native Dari and Pashto speakers and have knowledge of local context, helping to identify and alert us to emerging issues on the platform,” the Facebook spokesperson said. 

WhatsApp ban on the Taliban

The Facebook ban on Taliban-related content and accounts also apply to its apps Instagram and WhatsApp. However, according to reports, the Taliban are still using WhatsApp to communicate in between them. This is because the app is end-to-end encrypted and Facebook can’t spy on what people are sharing on it.