WASHINGTON: Social media giant Facebook Wednesday suspended the account of former Afghan premier Ashraf Ghani a day later it banned Taliban related content.
The move comes after the ousted leader made the first statement through his verified Facebook account from an undisclosed location after fleeing the Afghan state following the Taliban takes over.
However, the US-based tech company didn’t release any statement on the suspension of Ghani’s account.
Earlier, the 72-year-old in his last message on social media had said that he had left the country to stop the bloodshed. “If I had stayed in the country, many innocent citizens would have been martyred and Kabul would have been destroyed”.
The social media platform announced a ban on content related to the Afghan Taliban and its supporters on all its platforms, including Instagram and WhatsApp.
Reports quoting British media claimed that teams of Afghan experts have been formed to monitor and remove content linked to the social media group.
The social networking site has also formed a team of Dari and Pashto-speaking experts to help identify issues on the platform.
“We have blocked all accounts created by or in support of the Taliban and banned from praising, supporting and representing the Taliban on all platforms”, the Facebook spokesperson mentioned adding that “the Taliban are banned terror organization under US law and we have stopped providing services to the Taliban in light of US policy on dangerous organizations”.
Following the development, Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen lambasted the social media giant Facebook for curbing freedom of speech in Afghanistan.
Speaking at a virtual press conference, he said “The question should be asked to those people who are claiming to be promoters of freedom of speech who do not allow publication of all information”.
In a similar development, Ghani, who escaped Afghanistan is now in the United Arab Emirates, the UAE government confirmed.
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