Najibullah Haqqani, the Taliban's Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology, has declared that his ministry has completed a plan to limit or entirely block access to specific social platforms, including Facebook, in Afghanistan.
Haqqani argued that shutting down Facebook would help to "prevent the waste of youth's time and resources" and curb exposure to "immoral content."
During an interview with TOLOnews, Haqqani expressed concern over the state of Afghan youth, describing them as "scientifically weak and largely illiterate," and criticized their consumption of social media for benefiting corporations at the nation's expense.
While no specific timeline for the implementation of this plan was disclosed, Haqqani revealed that the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology is preparing a policy to enact the Facebook ban in Afghanistan.
The minister stressed the importance of education for Afghan youth over time spent on social networks.
This announcement follows a directive from Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban's supreme leader, instructing the cabinet to consider the proposal to disable Facebook access.
Additionally, the Taliban cabinet has instructed the Ministry to block other platforms and channels, including TikTok and PUBG, citing their potential to mislead youth.
This move to restrict access to Facebook in Afghanistan comes as "Meta," Facebook's parent company, has already blocked accounts associated with the Taliban and Afghan government institutions under U.S. "anti-terrorism" laws.
