Facebook-owned WhatsApp has blocked ‘official Taliban channels’ on Tuesday in order to prevent the Taliban from using the messaging platform. Along with those channels is a complaint helpline set up by the Taliban when it took over Kabul. This move came after the messaging app came under pressure to block the insurgent group from using its platform. Facebook has also banned the Taliban and all content supporting it from its platforms. The social media giant said that it considers the group to be a terrorist organisation.
The WhatsApp helpline was set up in order to act as an emergency hotline for civilians to complain about violence, looting and other such issues, said a report by The Financial Times. The Taliban had, as recently as Sunday, advertised the helpline when it captured Kabul.
Facebook said that it is actively scanning group names, descriptions and profile pictures on WhatsApp to try and prevent the Taliban from using its platform. Its team of native Dari and Pashto speakers are helping the social media giant to identify and alert the platform on emerging issues.
Many in the US had criticised WhatsApp for not taking more action to suspend Taliban communications. But experts in the region said that shutting down WhatsApp numbers was ‘absurd’ and ‘unhelpful’, said the daily.
Activists and academics said that the Taliban leadership kept an eye on the complaints to maintain order amongst the ranks and keep them in line.
Ashley Jackson, former Red Cross and Oxfam aid worker in Afghanistan said that in a situation as ‘bizarre, fast-moving’ as this, civilians need all the resources they can get, and the WhatsApp helpline is one of them.
The Taliban had used a similar WhatsApp hotline in the past when they took over the city of Kunduz in 2016. That helpline number was used by various NGOs and even the UN, to complain and recover looted property, including medical supplies.
Meanwhile, WhatsApp said that it is obliged to adhere to US sanctions. Facebook too had said after banning the insurgent group, “The Taliban is sanctioned as a terrorist organisation under US law and we have banned them from our services. This means we remove accounts maintained by or on behalf of the Taliban and prohibit praise, support, and representation of them. Facebook does not make decisions about the recognised government in any particular country but instead respects the authority of the international community in making these determinations.”
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