Taliban spokespeople and leaders use social media to present their positions on Afghan issues (Al Jazeera + agencies)
Kabul -
In a first of its kind, the Taliban-led Afghan government uses social media platforms such as Facebook, X, and YouTube, more than others, to “manage public opinion” in Afghanistan.
After the Taliban took control of Kabul on August 15, 2021, the movement initially launched a public relations campaign to formulate a different image of itself, to distance itself from its heritage and its positions on women, work, and education. Under the attention of the international media, the Taliban movement tried to appear moderate, and refrained from taking any action. Publicly tough stance on multiple issues.
Afghan journalist Javed Durrani says - to Al Jazeera Net - “What distinguishes the second period of Taliban rule is that many things differed compared to the first stage. The Taliban now rely, on a large scale, on social media, and are aware of their influence in imposing their positions on the Afghan street, and they view them as platforms.” “It is important to convey her voice to the people.”
The Taliban took control after the withdrawal of US forces in 2021 (Al Jazeera)
A new approach
Social media is receiving attention from the Taliban-led Afghan government, because it has the ability to coordinate and direct public opinion at the level of large audiences, and in a short time. Estimates have shown that 89% of Afghans have access to the Internet via their mobile phones.
The Taliban movement is aware of the importance of social media networks in influencing public opinion and the fate of its government, and today it is benefiting from these networks to the maximum extent. While the Taliban’s rule of Afghanistan faces many questions, and they are exposed to serious pressure from public opinion, but by using social media networks such as X, YouTube, and Facebook, The Taliban is trying to manage public opinion on the one hand and refute propaganda against it on the other hand.
Rustam Oriya, an expert on media affairs in Afghanistan, told Al Jazeera Net, "The Taliban seeks to achieve specific goals using social media networks, and the Taliban's propaganda content on social media networks has two axes: defending the religion, and demonstrating good governance in Afghanistan."
The Taliban changed its media approach after 2001, and no longer prevents the media from operating in general, but imposes more restrictions and control, in an attempt to gain legitimacy.
Afghan writer Hikmat Jalil says - to Al Jazeera Net - that "the Taliban has achieved greater success on the propaganda battlefield compared to the previous Afghan government and foreign forces, due to the lack of coordination with a propaganda approach against the Taliban, and the movement began using social media networks in 2009."
Starting from Telegram
The Telegram platform was one of the first social media platforms that the Taliban movement was able to access, and began to use. It created channels there to disseminate its news and military activities, and opened communication channels with local and foreign media and correspondents. Although this platform was one of the most used networks before movement, they are currently not widely used.
Although about 17 years have passed since the establishment of this platform, it was not used much in Afghanistan until 2018, but after the start of negotiations between the United States and the Taliban in the capital, Doha, and since the first round, the Taliban negotiators presented the details of their talks with Washington on the X platform. (formerly Twitter), and Taliban members created hundreds of fake accounts.
Afghan journalist Javed Kakar says - to Al Jazeera Net - that “the Taliban’s entry into Twitter (X) coincided with the start of the Doha negotiations with Washington, and the Taliban’s audience were the leaders of countries, local and foreign political figures, and the Afghan and foreign media, and they tried to convince the international community to support them, and that they An undeniable fact."
The accounts that work for the Taliban-led Afghan government on the X platform can be divided into 3 groups:
Taliban leaders and spokespersons for the movement.
Foreign supporters and government officials.
Accounts of government institutions and media, which are the legacy of the previous Afghan government.
YouTube is the second most used network by the Taliban after the X platform (Shutterstock)
Taliban leaders and spokespeople, who have powerful accounts on the Average 3 articles per day.
Some leaders prefer the X platform over its Meta counterpart. Member of the Political Bureau and brother of the Afghan Minister of the Interior, Anas Haqqani, wrote on the
The Taliban uses the X platform politically; Because it does not impose any restrictions on its activities, such as Facebook and its affiliated platforms, and Taliban leaders and official spokespeople publish news about the Afghan government’s achievements and defend its political positions.
Journalist Imran Azizi told Al Jazeera Net, “Taliban spokesmen and leaders publish their positions on Afghan issues on the With the world."
Taliban supporters have created thousands of accounts on the
In this regard, Afghan media expert Harun Habib tells Al Jazeera Net: “There is another activity on the platform, which is that a group affiliated with the movement is disseminating positive information to support the Taliban and suppress opponents, and highlighting the weaknesses of its opponents, and most of the accounts of this group are fake.” .
The third category is the valid accounts that the Taliban movement inherited from the previous government or its affiliated media institutions, such as the Presidential Palace, the Ministry of Defense and Interior, and the Afghan Bakhtar Agency, which are now under the control of the Taliban. These accounts publish up to 5 tweets on average every day. She has about two million followers.
Facebook is one of the most popular and widespread networks in Afghanistan, but it imposes many restrictions on the Taliban (Associated)
Special content on YouTube
YouTube is the second most used network by the Taliban after the There are 5 employees in each channel, and they receive a monthly salary from the government.”
Taliban content on YouTube can be divided into 5 sections:
Demonstration of the Taliban's military strength.
Showing politicians and former officials in a negative light.
Destroying the character of the Taliban’s opponents, whether military or intellectual.
Advertisements reflect construction projects carried out by the Taliban.
Depicting security and peace in Afghanistan.
Challenge on Facebook
The Facebook platform views the Taliban as a terrorist organization, imposes strict restrictions on its activities, and prevents the publication of any content related to the movement. Media expert Jamil Al-Kouzi told Al Jazeera Net, "The Facebook platform assigned a number of Afghan experts to monitor and remove content related to the Taliban movement, and it even removed blue marks from the accounts of the previous Afghan government, because they had fallen into the hands of the Taliban."
It should be noted that Facebook is one of the most popular and widespread networks in Afghanistan, as most Internet users have an account on this network, but the Taliban do not use it and instead focus on the X platform.
Source: Al Jazeera