Social Networks: The Last Refuge for Afghan Women's Voices; Under the Blade of Taliban Censorship

Photo: Learning Together / Global Issues

The Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice of the Taliban has once again intensified restrictions on social media in Afghanistan with a new warning. In an audio message broadcast today, Monday (May 12), on National Television, the ministry announced that the "un-Islamic and immoral" use of social media would face legal consequences.

Saif-ul-Islam Khyber, the spokesperson for this ministry, emphasized in his audio message that no individual or institution is allowed to use social networks for purposes other than what the Taliban describes as "defending Islam, promoting religious sciences, strengthening the unity of the Islamic Ummah, and disseminating reliable news."

The Taliban official also warned that the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue, using its "legal authority and available means," monitors users' online activities and will prosecute violators.

While the Taliban government has imposed widespread censorship on domestic media, it is now attempting to bring the remaining space on social media under its full control. According to reports, the group has so far banned the publication of images of living beings in more than 20 provinces, even on the official pages of media outlets, government institutions, and private companies.

Concerns over the Taliban's pressure on freedom of expression are growing as ordinary citizens and journalists have repeatedly been arrested, tortured, and imprisoned for their activities on social media, accused of "violating" the frameworks announced by the group.

Currently, at least 10 journalists are being held in Taliban prisons, solely for publishing reports that contradicted the views and interests of this group.

An exiled female journalist, who requested anonymity, said: “For Afghan women who are surrounded by silence and erasure from all sides, social media remains the only window for breathing freely. The Taliban want to close even this window.”

Meanwhile, the Afghan Women's Rights Watch, through an official statement, condemned the Taliban's Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue's warning, describing it as part of "systematic efforts to silence women in all areas, from home to cyberspace."

The statement read: "By banning and threatening social media users, the Taliban seek to destroy the last stronghold of Afghan women's expression. This policy is not only a blatant violation of the right to freedom of expression but also a deliberate attempt to erase women's voices from the collective memory of society."

Darya Ahmadi, a women's rights activist and one of the officials of this organization, told Zan TV: "When a woman can no longer even write about her pains in an Instagram post, it means she has been imprisoned in absolute darkness. The world's silence towards this silent crime is equivalent to complicity with oppression."

The Afghan Women's Rights Watch has called on the United Nations, media freedom advocacy organizations, and governments in contact with the Taliban to take immediate action to protect women's right to free expression, even in the virtual world.