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Social media giant, Facebook, has designated Taliban as a terrorist organisation and banned its content from its platforms, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
A Facebook spokesperson said the company is closely monitoring the situation in the country and that its sister app, WhatsApp would also take action (including removal) on any accounts found to be linked with sanctioned organisations in Afghanistan.
“The Taliban is sanctioned as a terrorist organisation under US law and we have banned them from our services under our Dangerous Organisation policies. This means we remove accounts maintained by or on behalf of the Taliban and prohibit praise, support, and representation of them,” the Facebook spokesperson said.
Facebook has defined the Taliban as a dangerous organisation for many 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 spokesperson added.
However, Taliban members reportedly continue to use the end-to-end encrypted messaging service,WhatsApp, to communicate directly with its members despite the company prohibiting it under rules against dangerous organisations.
Facebook said that it would take action if it found accounts on the app to be linked to the group.
Taliban spokesmen have been using micro blogging site,Twitter, with hundreds and thousands of followers to give updates during the country’s takeover.
When asked about Taliban’s use of Twitter to spread its messages, Facebook pointed to its policies against violent organisations and hateful conduct.
The company, however, did not say how it makes its classifications.
Meanwhile,Taliban officials have issued statements saying they want peaceful international relations and have promised to protect Afghans.
Taliban took control of the eastern city of Jalalabad on Sunday, along with the capital, Kabul, which was the last major urban city under government’s control.