Agencies
Kabul
A senior leader of the Taliban on Monday weighed in on the social media battle between tech billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, arguing that when it comes to social media, Twitter has some “important advantages” over the competition.
The first advantage that Twitter has “is the freedom of speech,” Anas Haqqani, who helped lead Taliban negotiations with Afghanistan’s former, elected government, wrote in a July 10 post. The second is its “public nature” and “credibility,” he continued, adding that he’s no fan of the company’s chief competitor, which launched a rival application, Threads, just this month.
“Twitter doesn’t have an intolerant policy like Meta,” Haqqani wrote. “Other platforms cannot replace it.”
Musk, a self-described “free-speech absolutist,” has sought to position Twitter under his ownership as welcoming of all speech, even if controversial, as long as it’s lawful. But his follow-through on that promise has come under scrutiny, with Twitter’s approval rate of censorship requests from governments like Turkey and India increasing since his takeover, El Pais previously reported.
Haqqani’s is a controversial endorsement. In November 2019, he was released from an Afghan prison after five years behind bars as part of a prisoner swap with the Taliban. He joined Twitter about eight months later, during its previous ownership. Afghan officials described Haqqani as a computer guru who was charged with “strategic decision-making” and fundraising for the Haqqani Network.
