Facebook and Instagram take security measures inside Afghanistan

The American social networking sites “Facebook” and “Instagram” have taken security measures for their users in Afghanistan, after the “Taliban” movement took control of it.

Facebook has hidden the “friends” lists of accounts in Afghanistan, in order to protect them from targeting by the Taliban.

Facebook has also added a tool to quickly close accounts, which people in Afghanistan can now access with a single click.

4/ We’ve launched a one-click tool for people in Afghanistan to quickly lock down their account. When their profile is locked, people who aren’t their friends can’t download or share their profile photo or see posts on their timeline. pic.twitter.com/pUANh5uBgn

— Nathaniel Gleicher @ngleicher@infosec.exchange (@ngleicher) August 19, 2021

“When their profile is locked, people who aren’t friends with them can’t download or share their profile picture or see posts on their timeline,” Facebook’s head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said on Twitter.

Gleicher said Facebook made those changes based on comments from activists, journalists and civil society groups.

2/ Over the past week, our teams have been working around the clock to do everything we can to help keep people safe. While we have to be careful to avoid tipping off bad actors, here are a few security measures we’ve rolled out for people in country to protect their accounts.

— Nathaniel Gleicher @ngleicher@infosec.exchange (@ngleicher) August 19, 2021

Nathaniel Gleicher also noted that Facebook has added alerts that appear inside Afghanistan, including steps to protect accounts on the Facebook-owned Instagram photo and video site, and he urged people who have friends and family in Afghanistan to tighten their visibility settings.

“Facebook is closely monitoring the situation there, and will take steps to help protect people in real time,” Gleicher said, noting that he has appointed a special operations center “to respond to new threats as they arise.”

The Taliban took control of the Afghan capital, Kabul, and large areas of Afghanistan, as well as most of the crossings with neighboring countries. This coincided with the exit of the United States and NATO forces from this country, which began in early May. It is scheduled to expire by the eleventh of next September.

Meanwhile, an official in the Taliban movement (banned in Russia) said last Sunday that the group would soon declare the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The Associated Press confirmed that the Taliban official said that “the group will soon announce the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from the presidential palace in the capital, Kabul,” stressing that “the official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to give to the media.”