In Brief:
- Twitter CEO Jack, Is reportedly, letting the Talibans have access to their platform.
- By contrast, Facebook has promised to enforce its ban on accounts that praise, support or represent the Taliban on all its platforms — including Instagram.
It’s been two days since Kabul fell to the Taliban. The social media giants are scrambling to figure out how to deal with the takeover of Afghanistan by the militants. Facebook re-instigated its ban on accounts praising, supporting, or representing the Taliban from its platforms. But Twitter is refusing to join its peers in the social-media world in prohibiting the Taliban from using its platform.
In a statement, Twitter avoided the question of whether it would bar representatives of the Taliban from getting their message out. Twitter said only that it would “continue to proactively enforce” its rules outlawing the “glorification of violence, platform manipulation and spam.”
“Twitter’s top priority is keeping people safe, and we remain vigilant,” the statement further adds.
Twitter does not have a blanket policy against Taliban use of the site. The official account of the group’s spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid has more than 300k followers since the fall of Kabul.
Republicans expressed outrage that Twitter seemed content to allow named Taliban members access to the social network to promote their narrative. At the core of the issue was an awkward spot for the social networks.
Tech critics have expressed disagreement towards Twitter’s tolerance toward the Taliban after it banned Trump. The company also recently suspended Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene after she questioned the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines. However, it has permitted accounts affiliated with repressive governments like China and Iran to spread anti-American and anti-Israel propaganda.
