Anas Haqqani, a senior Taliban leader but without a government portfolio, said on Monday that Twitter had “two important advantages” over other platforms, days after Meta launched its new social network, called Threads, with the intention of competing with Twitter.
“The first advantage is freedom of expression. The second is Twitter’s publicity and credibility,” he tweeted, before adding that “Twitter does not have Meta’s bigoted politics” and that “other platforms cannot replace it.”
This message has earned him strong criticism, observing that the Taliban government does not allow the same rights in terms of freedom of expression to its citizens.
Anas Haqqani, brother of the influential Afghan Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, is one of the young figures in the Taliban movement. Followed by more than 500,000 people on Twitter, he expresses himself, often in English, on various topics, from cricket to poetry, national and international politics.
Strong presence on social networks
Afghan activity on social media is closely watched by the authorities and many people have been detained for criticizing the government.
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have greatly increased their presence on social media. But many of his accounts, or those of his followers, were blocked, sometimes as soon as they were created.
The Taliban government now uses Twitter for its main announcements and most ministries have official accounts, though none appear to have paid for the blue tick since Twitter changed its account certification system earlier this year.
Facebook in constant struggle
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp, is actively closing accounts associated with the Taliban. Accounts with the words “Taliban,” “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” or with the movement’s distinctive white flag are quickly shut down, according to social media watchers.
Last year, Facebook shut down the pages of the RTA, Afghanistan’s public radio and television, and the Bakhtar news agency, saying it was in compliance with US law that lists the Taliban as a “terrorist organization.”
Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter last year, has restored tens of thousands of accounts that had been blocked, including that of former US President Donald Trump. Some belonged to vaccination conspirators or opponents, or had been suspended for misinformation, harassment and hate speech.
Source: BFM TV
