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Twitter displays double standard in Afghanistan; SERAP, Falana, Amnesty, rights lawyers keep mum
Twitter has yet to take down the Taliban account on the micro-bogging platform as the fundamentalist group toppled the Ashraf Ghani-led government which the US left in Afghanistan as it pulled out its military.
Facebook had long pulled the group’s account on all of its platform, including WhtasApp and Instagram, stating the group repressive character.
You-Tube and Tiktok have done so too.
But Twitter said it will “continue to proactively enforce our rules and review content that may violate Twitter rules, specifically policies against glorification of violence, platform manipulation and spam.”
Twitter insisted Afghans are using the platform to seek help and refuge.
The two Taliban spokesmen, Suhail Shaehee and Zabihullah Mujahid have more than 351,000 and 310,000 Twitter followers, respectively. Their accounts have been active for years.
On Tuesday, Rep. Doug Lamborn sent a letter to Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, expressing concerns about members of the Taliban being allowed to use the platform to get their message out.
“Why does Twitter allow two Taliban spokesmen to have a platform but restricts the First Amendment Rights of former President Trump? It’s past time to hold #BigTech accountable. #Taliban,” he tweeted.
“The Taliban Spokesman has a Twitter account without any problem. Meanwhile, President Trump is banned from the platform,” tweeted Rep. Claudia Tenney, a New York Republican.
‘Something is very wrong here.’
What is exactly wrong is that Twitter has permanently band US ex-President Donald Trump for his violence-prone tweets and disinformation.
Twitter was accused of double standard in Nigeria when it deleted President Muhammadu Buhari’s post and kept IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu urging his men to kill security agents in Nigeria.
Nigeria has since suspended the platform.
Human rights groups like SERAP, Amnesty, and others flew into a rage when Nigeria suspended the platform in June.
Lawyer Femi Falana and others had to drag Buhari and his government to ECOWAS court then.
None of these groups and their lawyer has called out Twitter over the Taliban account retention.