Twitter lets Taliban use platform to get their message out

Twitter, whose CEO Jack Dorsey seemed downright gleeful when the platform finally banned President Donald Trump after his term in office ended in January 2021, has no problem letting the Taliban voice their opinions on the social media site.

The Times reports from London that Twitter is "the only significant social media platform to not have banned the Taliban." Senior members of the organization apparently have more than a million followers combined.

When pressed, a Twitter spokeswoman said that "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 are taking steps to safeguard the voices of those on our service who represent protected groups including humanitarian workers, journalists, news media, human rights activists and others."

Taliban tweets will have "prioritised labelling" in order "to provide context," she said.

Facebook and YouTube both eliminated the Taliban and their propagandist rhetoric from their platforms, but on Twitter, the Taliban can let their flag fly freely. In their defense, Twitter said that those in the Taliban would not be banned "unless they were found to be glorifying or promoting violence or expressing hate against a person or group," The Times reports.

Facebook released a statement saying that "The Taliban is sanctioned as a terrorist organisation under US law and they are banned from Facebook and Instagram under our policies. This means we remove accounts maintained by or on behalf of the Taliban and prohibit praise, support and representation of them."

Facebook banned the Taliban from Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. But Facebook also blocked a helpline that was put in place for Afghans to report violence and seek help as the Taliban took over Kabul over the weekend.

So who are some of these men who speak on behalf of the Taliban and have no problem getting their message across on Dorsey's Twitter?

Suhail Shaheen is one, a Taliban spokeman for "international media." Shaheen's account has more than 350,000 followers and mostly uses his account to "counter negative stories" about his terrorist group. He said that Taliban fighters were not forcing marriage on young girls and women in Afghanistan, and that any statements contrary to his own was "poisonous propaganda."

Trump was considered too toxic for Twitter, though many who issue threats, such as Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei, are allowed to speak to the world on the platform.