KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 — Launched by Instagram to rival Twitter, the Threads app has recorded more than 100 million users in less than five days. But Twitter still has a staunch supporter in senior Taliban leader Anas Haqqani.
Taking to his Twitter, Haqqani praised the platform for its freedom of speech and credibility.
“Twitter doesn’t have an intolerant policy like Meta. Other platforms cannot replace it,” he tweeted.
Twitter has two important advantages over other social media platforms.
— Anas Haqqani(انس حقاني) (@AnasHaqqani313) July 10, 2023
The first privilege is the freedom of speech. The second privilege is the public nature & credibility of Twitter. Twitter doesn't have an intolerant policy like Meta. Other platforms cannot replace it. pic.twitter.com/oYQTI3hgfI
Though Twitter may have fallen out of favour following the takeover by billionaire Elon Musk last year, it did not affect the Taliban’s love for it.
Two Taliban officials, according to Vice, even bought blue verification check marks after Musk started offering them for sale in January.
Haqqani said the biggest attraction to Twitter was its lax moderation policy.
According to the portal, following US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the collapse of the US-backed Afghan central government in 2021, Taliban became the legitimate leaders of the country.
The Taliban is aggressively using social media to push its message, leading some former fighters to complain about the amount of time they need to spend on the computer.
Facebook and TikTok have branded the Taliban as a terrorist organisation thus disabling them from posting, a ban that still persists to this day.
