WhatsApp shuts down Taliban helpline in Kabul that was allegedly for reporting violence and looting, as Facebook blocks other “official Taliban channels”

Complaints number meant to act as emergency hotline for civilians to report violence and looting

Financial Times 2021-08-18 Madhumita Murgia

Context & Ripple Effects

The Taliban was already using WhatsApp to coordinate and distribute messages, while the service’s encryption made broad enforcement difficult, according to coverage of its use of WhatsApp for coordination and messaging. The helpline takedown and Facebook’s blocks therefore target identifiable official presences rather than the wider communications medium.

The immediate dispute foreshadows the recurring enforcement problem documented later, when sanctions-driven bans of Taliban officials’ WhatsApp accounts disrupted a government reliant on the app for communication.

First-order effects

The Taliban loses a Kabul contact point presented as a channel for civilians to report violence and looting, while Facebook removes other official Taliban channels.
WhatsApp and Facebook place visible Taliban-operated accounts and services under active platform enforcement, despite the difficulty of policing encrypted communications at scale.

Second-order effects

Repeated account removals turn WhatsApp access into an operational vulnerability for Taliban officials and institutions that rely on the app, as later coverage describes.
Facebook’s parallel blocks narrow the Taliban’s ability to use major Meta services as official-facing outlets, concentrating the enforcement challenge on identifiable accounts and channels.

Third-order effects

The pattern points to platform governance in which sanctions and account-level enforcement can constrain official use of consumer messaging services without eliminating a group’s broader ability to communicate on encrypted networks.

The trend: Major platforms are increasingly treating access to mainstream communications products as a revocable operational dependency for sanctioned or prohibited political actors.

Discussion

@mliammccollum Liam McCollum on x
The Taliban spokesman got a question about freedom of speech and he said the question should be asked to US companies like Facebook who claim to promote it while still censoring
@therecount @therecount on x
Taliban spokesman through a translator deflects a question on free speech: “I can ask Facebook company, this question should be asked to them.” https://twitter.com/...
@nahaltoosi Nahal Toosi on x
The Taliban spokesman just criticized Facebook for censorship in a public press conference. Brave new world, indeed.
@bbcyaldahakim Yalda Hakim on x
The Taliban's Complaints Commission WhatsApp +93 79 471 7946
@jkylebass @jkylebass on x
Did Facebook and WhatsApp enable the Taliban to forcibly overtake the government of Afghanistan? My special forces friends tell me that the Taliban's comms network is centered around WhatsApp. They sent nationwide messages to the Afghan Army threatening them and their families.
@dlknowles Daniel Knowles on x
I am slightly annoyed I didn't write about these WhatsApp helplines ages ago. But when I heard about them, they weren't “helplines”. It was more just, your local Taliban were reachable by WhatsApp, and if you called, they would resolve disputes. It's just how they govern https://…
@markscott82 Mark Scott on x
I'm not even going to try to pretend I'm an Afghanistan expert. But when both @Facebook & @Twitter are rife w/ Taliban content (including groups & accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers) and neither company has a good reason why, I just shake my head in wonder
@sheeraf Sheera Frenkel on x
Yesterday, we sent Facebook, YT, and others accounts belonging to the Taliban spokesman. We asked for comment, and they responded by removing them. Today, the Taliban spokesman is complaining of censorship. Story coming soon on this...
@donaldjtrumpjr Donald Trump Jr on x
LOL... Also not wrong. https://twitter.com/...
@b_fung Brian Fung on x
As the Taliban regain control of Afghanistan, social media platforms are having to grapple anew with the organization's online presence — and their handling of it is basically all over the place. Our story, plus a bit of story about the story below. https://www.cnn.com/...
@eculliford Elizabeth Culliford on x
YouTube said today it bans accounts believed to be owned and operated by the Afghan Taliban, in what a spokesperson said was a long-standing policy (— yesterday Facebook told @Reuters they ban the Taliban but YouTube did not confirm) https://www.reuters.com/...
@hotepjesus Hotep Jesus on x
How do we vote for the Taliban in the next election? https://twitter.com/...
@kasparov63 Garry Kasparov on x
As Putin's authoritarian Russia trolls the US about police violence and genocidal China does it about racism. They learn the modern whataboutism game quickly. They exploit the free world media & its concerns. https://twitter.com/...
@jg_major @jg_major on x
The United States is a government Facebook is a private company that can set whatever communications standards it chooses but watch the far right and far left claim the Taliban is making sense here...... https://twitter.com/...
@ianbremmer Ian Bremmer on x
A Taliban spokesman criticizing Facebook for censorship. And you thought 2021 couldn't get any more surreal. https://twitter.com/...
@sam_l_shead Sam Shead on x
From the FT piece: “Experts in the region said that shutting down the WhatsApp numbers was ‘absurd’ and ‘unhelpful’ at a time when the military group was in effect governing the country and citizens in Kabul were facing looting, panic and chaos.”
@mollyemccluskey Molly McCluskey on x
Incredible reporting - “These efforts could be the only lifeline for many trying to flee the country—but at the same time they are not without risk, as observers fear crowdsourced information could be used by the Taliban to identify the very people in need of rescue.” https://twi…
@etbrooking Emerson T. Brooking on x
These WhatsApp suspensions will not help Afghans. They are designed to placate guilty Westerners who have lost all tools of coercion and compellance except the long arm of content moderation. https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@bernardkerik Bernard B. Kerik on x
How ironic is it that when one of the Taliban leaders is asked if they will allow free speech, he refers them to Facebook and Twitter and recommends that the press speak to them. The USA is being chastised about free speech by the fucking Taliban. #Insanity
@abhirahmantx Abhi Rahman on x
Considering his dad released the leader of the Taliban in 2018, this really isn't all too surprising. https://twitter.com/...
@chizmaga @chizmaga on x
The Taliban has called out Facebook more than Republican Senators.
@countdankulatv @countdankulatv on x
When your free speech record is so bad that even the fucking Taliban call you out. https://twitter.com/...
@micsolana Mike Solana on x
i'm gonna go ahead and take the controversial position that no, the taliban is worse than facebook, actually https://twitter.com/...
@realcandaceo Candace Owens on x
We've reached next level when the taliban is hitting at the totalitarianism of the U.S. And yes— they are telling the truth here. Big Tech in collusion with the Democrats have destroyed the elements that gave America the moral high ground in discussions about freedom worldwide. h…
@acmeaviation Acme on x
Taliban press briefing- “you ask about freedom of speech, meanwhile Facebook and social media silence people who criticize the US media or administration.” Mic. Drop.
@cernovich @cernovich on x
This is what a loss of soft power / moral legitimacy looks like. This is what Democrats have done. https://twitter.com/...
@errolwebber Errol Webber on x
Are Facebook and Twitter going to allow a platform for the Taliban to speak freely... while continuing their ban of President Trump? This tells you everything you need to know about the Left. https://twitter.com/...
@conservmillen Allie Beth Stuckey on x
In case you didn't know, the Taliban doesn't care about Facebook censorship, Putin doesn't care about Ashli Babbit, & the CCP doesn't care about racism in the US. They know how to spark debates & cause further division in here, and we ALWAYS take the bait
@sinai @sinai on x
@sheeraf Shortsighted to shot down the complaints helpline: “If the Taliban all of a sudden can't use WhatsApp, you're just isolating Afghans, making it harder for them to communicate in an already panicky situation. [WhatsApp's actions] are really misguided” https://www.ft.com/.…
@dineshdsouza Dinesh D'Souza on x
The West has lost moral credibility on issues like freedom of speech: the Taliban now appeals to Facebook's own censorship to justify their actions. https://rumble.com/...
@ryanradloff Ryan Radloff on x
@Jkylebass The enemy is not encryption. If it wasn't WhatsApp it would have been another encrypted service. This is like saying guns were used against Americans, guns are the issue.
@realkunalashah @realkunalashah on x
@ml8_ml8 @Jkylebass Strongly disagree with both of you- The cost of damaging the privacy is much more widespread and will reverberate much more than the tactical win of blocking terrorist communications. If we blocked the Taliban using WhatsApp they would just find other methods …
@newsmax @newsmax on x
A Taliban spokesman mockingly redirected a question about censorship toward the U.S. and Facebook. “I can ask Facebook company. This question should be asked to them.” https://www.newsmax.com/...
@3r1ng Erin Gallagher on x
@etbrooking So several US platforms nuked the network that might have created some sense of calm and order and now we can't follow their messaging either. Great.
@sam_l_shead Sam Shead on x
The Taliban's spokesman criticized Facebook for censorship in a public press conference in the capital of Kabul on Tuesday, claiming the group's freedom of speech is being stifled by the tech giant's ban.
@b_fung Brian Fung on x
State's FTO list does not include the Afghan Taliban, though it does name the Pakistani Taliban. Instead, Facebook is relying on a Treasury Department sanctions list that identifies the Afghan Taliban as a specially designated global terrorist entity. https://twitter.com/...
@b_fung Brian Fung on x
Facebook told us that for years, the Taliban has been banned from its platform because it's “sanctioned as a terrorist organization under US law.” You might think this refers to the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations, but it does not.
@jkylebass @jkylebass on x
This could easily become existential to Facebook and WhatsApp. #Afghanistan #Facebook #WhatsApp
@mmasnick Mike Masnick on x
Yup. Can't wait to see the MAGA crowd fighting for Taliban rights to Facebook as a common carrier... https://twitter.com/...
@dailytrix @dailytrix on x
The Taliban is anxiously awaiting the launch of Trump's new free speech social media platform. https://twitter.com/...
@michaeldweiss Michael Weiss on x
They'll be on Substack by the weekend. https://twitter.com/...
@ariehkovler Arieh Kovler on x
Maybe they can join Trump's lawsuit against Facebook https://twitter.com/...
@aaschapiro Avi Asher-Schapiro on x
“Preventing communication between people and the Taliban doesn't help Afghans, it is just grandstanding.” https://www.ft.com/...
@aliceemross Alice Ross on x
Today's surreal story: the Taliban set up a helpline for concerned residents on WhatsApp, and Facebook has now shut it down. https://www.ft.com/...
@cr3 Paul Curry on x
After Whatsapp was PR grandstanding about privacy last week, curious to see them shut down the violence and looting reporting hotline the Taliban set up, which seems like a dumb as shit move https://www.ft.com/...
@mshannahmurphy Hannah Murphy on x
Lots of calls for WhatsApp/Facebook to block the Taliban - but it's a double edged sword Here, experts say shutting down the Taliban helpline is “absurd"/"unhelpful", as the military group is in effect governing the country and citizens face looting/chaos https://www.ft.com/...
@rmac18 Ryan Mac🙃 on x
sensing a theme here https://twitter.com/...

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