The Taliban's social media dilemma
CNN
Days after taking control of Afghanistan earlier this month, the Taliban used its first press conference to take a swipe at Facebook in response to a question about freedom of speech.
"This 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," the group's spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, said. "I can ask Facebook. ... This question should be asked to them." The response, implying that Facebook was curbing free speech, hinted at a curious power dynamic: even as the Taliban presses for US forces to leave the country, it remains reliant on American social media companies such as Facebook (FB) and Twitter (TWTR) to get its message out, both within Afghanistan and beyond its borders. On Twitter, for example, multiple Taliban spokesmen, including Mujahid and Suhail Shaheen, have active, unverified accounts, each with more than 300,000 followers.More Related News
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