Afghanistan’s President Was Not Banned From Twitter
The Claim
Twitter suspended Afghanistan's President Amrullah Saleh’s account, but not the Taliban’s Twitter account.
News posted on
Emerging story
On August 19th, right-wing activist Ryan Fournier declared that Twitter banned the elected President of Afghanistan, and stated you “can’t make this up.” With over 23 thousand likes and 10 thousand retweets, the news began to spread that Twitter was silencing the official President of Afghanistan while allowing the Taliban to operate on the platform.
Misbar’s Analysis
MENA: Misbar found that Twitter’s suspension of certain accounts is only pending verification of identity. When the Taliban took over Kabul, President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. This effectively left his Vice President, Amrullah Saleh, in charge of the country in a role he calls the “care taker President.” Saleh declared it himself from his personal Twitter account, which is still active and posting. He announced that according to the Afghan constitution, abandonment by the former President leaves Saleh as the legal President. He continues to say he is taking diplomatic actions with that power, to attempt to garner support.
What users are referring to is the suspension of an account created to represent Saleh in his time as President. It will only be suspended until the account is verified as authentic. Accounts that claim to represent well-known public figures achieve an “authentic” rating from the social media platform to ensure that correct information is presented to the public. Twitter, unlike Facebook and YouTube, has allowed Taliban officials to use its service, provided they do not break any of Twitter’s terms of service. This led to Twitter reviewing accounts owned by Taliban leaders and spokespeople following the uncomfortable acknowledgment that a former U.S. president is banned from Twitter while Taliban officials are not.
While the stage was set for this bit of propaganda, it’s simply misrepresenting the facts: Saleh is still able to represent himself as the acting Afghan President on Twitter, but his official account is awaiting verification.
