CPJ calls on Taliban to drop plans to restrict Facebook access in Afghanistan

New York, April 8, 2024 – The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that the Taliban plans to restrict or block access to Facebook in Afghanistan and calls on authorities not to move ahead on a measure that would further impede the free flow of information in the country.

On April 6, Najibullah Haqqani, the Taliban’s acting Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology, announced in an interview with the independent, Kabul-based TOLOnews TV station that the group has finalized a plan to restrict or completely block access to Facebook in Afghanistan.

Since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the group has detained journalists, shut down Afghan news websites, and restricted access to foreign media outlets.

The Facebook pages for foreign news outlets that have been banned in Afghanistan—such as the U.S. Congress-funded broadcasters Voice of America and RFE/RL, the British public broadcaster the BBC, and the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle—however, are still accessible to readers inside the country.

“The Taliban’s plan to restrict or block access to Facebook would be a further blow to freedom of information in Afghanistan,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Social media platforms, including Facebook, have helped to fill a void left by the decline of the Afghan media industry since the Taliban’s August 2021 takeover and the ensuing crackdown on press freedom. The proposed ban highlights the worsening censorship by the Taliban.”

Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms widely used by media outlets to disseminate news and information in Afghanistan, including TOLOnews, which has over 4.5 million followers on Facebook.

When contacted, Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid told CPJ via messaging app that “Facebook will not be banned but restrictions will be imposed on it.”