acebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn said this week they had moved to secure the accounts of Afghan citizens to protect them against being targeted amid the Taliban’s swift takeover of the country.
Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s security policy chief, announced on Thursday that the ability to access or search the friend’s lists of accounts in Afghanistan has been temporarily disabled.
Gleicher also stated that they have introduced a “one-click mechanism” for Afghan users to lock down their accounts, preventing those who are not Facebook friends from seeing their timeline postings or sharing their profile images.
Human rights organizations have expressed worry that the Taliban may utilize online platforms to trace Afghans’ digital records or social relationships. According to Amnesty International, thousands of Afghans, including academics, journalists, and human rights campaigners, are at risk of Taliban retaliation. Also, the former captain of the Afghan women’s soccer team has called on the players to remove their social media accounts and hide their names from the public eye.