YouTube suggests it bans accounts thought to be owned by the Taliban

By Elizabeth Culliford

(Reuters) -Alphabet Inc’s YouTube explained on Tuesday it bans accounts thought to be owned and operated by the Taliban, as U.S. social media companies scrambled to publicly clarify their guidelines on the group that is in handle of Afghanistan.

Just after U.S.-led forces withdrew the bulk of their remaining troops previous month, the Taliban campaign accelerated as the Afghan military’s defences melted absent. Taliban insurgents entered the capital Kabul on Sunday.

Their return has raised fears of a crackdown on independence of speech and human legal rights, specially women’s rights, and worries that the region could once again develop into a hotspot for global terrorism.

Individually, the Economical Periods claimed that Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp messaging services has shut down a issues helpline established up by the Taliban immediately after it took command of Kabul.(https://on.ft.com/3yXNI0e)

A WhatsApp spokesperson declined to comment on the action, but mentioned the services was obligated to ban accounts that look to symbolize themselves as official accounts of the Taliban, as aspect of U.S sanction regulations.

The complaints range that was an emergency hotline for civilians to report violence, looting or other challenges was blocked by Facebook on Tuesday, along with other formal Taliban channels, the report reported.

Fb experienced on Monday stated it designates the Taliban a terrorist group and bans it and material supporting it from its platforms.

YouTube, when questioned if it banned the Taliban on Monday, declined to comment.

(Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru and Elizabeth Culliford in London Enhancing by Arun Koyyur)