Taliban Bans China’s TikTok for ‘Misleading’ Youth in Afghanistan

The ruling Taliban of Afghanistan has banned the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok for “misleading” the youth of the country. One Taliban official commented that TikTok is filled with “filthy content was not consistent with Islamic Laws.”

Bloomberg reports that the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok will soon be banned in Afghanistan as the ruling Taliban continues a moral policing drive throughout the country, according to a Taliban spokesperson. The social media app which is popular among younger users is “misleading the younger generation,” according to Inamullah Samangani.

فیصله کابینه:

وزارت مخابرات و تکنالوژی معلوماتی موظف است تا گیم پب‌جی (PUBG) و اپلیکیشن بنام تیک‌تاک را که سبب گمراهی نسل جوان می‌گردد، مسدود نماید.
به همین ترتیب از نشرات آنعده چینل‌های که مواد و برنامه‌های غیر اخلاقی را نشر می‌نماید، حتی الامکان جلوگیری نماید.

— Inamullah Samangani (@HabibiSamangani) April 21, 2022

Later speaking by phone, Samangani stated that TikTok’s “filthy content was not consistent with Islamic Laws.” The decision was made during a cabinet meeting earlier this week and is the first time the group has banned an app since coming into power last year.

The Taliban has also made the decision to ban the popular South Korean video game PUBG and ban Afghan television channels from airing “immoral” content. The crackdown by the group on TikTok is just one element of a strict religious policing campaign.

The campaign includes the suspension of high school education for girls, forcing government workers not to shave their beards, and ordering taxi drivers to not take women more than 70KM (43 miles) without a male family member accompanying them.

Samangani stated: “We’ve received a lot of complaints about how the TikTok app and the PUBG game are wasting people’s time. The ministry of communications and information technology was ordered to remove the apps from internet servers and make them inaccessible to everyone in Afghanistan.”

Read more at Bloomberg here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com