Taliban Bans TikTok and PUBG In Afghanistan For Misleading Youth

The Taliban has placed a ban on the video-sharing application TikTok and also the online multi-player game PUBG in the belief that they were taking Afghan young people “astray”.

The group that is militant said it would also block the broadcasting of material it considers to be “immoral material”. This follows recent bans on music, films soap operas, and TV soaps.

The Taliban offered a more relaxed approach to the administration when it came to power in the year 2000, but has been progressively limiting liberties, especially for women. The group was famous for its strict interpretation of Islamist rule which was the hallmark of the first time it was in the government from 1996 until 2001.

Taliban spokesperson Inamullah Samangani said that the new ban was needed in order to “prevent the younger generation from being misled”. However, it’s not known what time the restriction will go in, or for how it will last. It’s the first time that the group has blocked an app since their election in August.

TikTok and PUBG have become more popular among young Afghans in recent months, as various other types of entertainment have been censored by The BBC’s Afghan Service editor Hameed Shuja. TikTok specifically has become popular among young men who love making humorous videos in short lengths and sharing them on the platform, according to our friend.

PUBG which stands for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is an online shooter game developed by a South Korean developer that has also become quite well-known. An earlier attempt by the government of the past to stop PUBG was unsuccessful.

The amount of people who use the internet in Afghanistan has increased quickly in recent years, as has the population of its young around nine million active users at present. More than two-thirds of America’s 39 million inhabitants are under the age of 25.

The ban was announced on the same day that four explosions struck cities across Afghanistan including the Shia mosque located in Mazar-e-Sharif. At a minimum, 31 people were killed, and at least 87 people were injured. It is believed that the Islamic State group has admitted that it was responsible for the attack.

On Thursday, the state-owned media agency Bakhtar News reported that the Taliban have arrested the person responsible for the attack on the mosque.