Online Abuse Soar Against Politically Active Afghan Women After Taliban Takeover

Online abusive posts against politically active Afghan women have increased to 217% since August 2021, according to an Associated Press report. The increase in hate speech started when the Taliban took over, as per a report by 'Afghan Witness,' a U.K.-based rights group.

The investigation team "collected and analyzed over 78,000 posts" written in indigenous Afghan languages, Dari and Pashto. Posts are addressed at "almost 100 accounts of politically active Afghan women."

To study the scope of online harassment following the Taliban takeover, the team behind the paper studied publicly accessible data from X, formerly known as Twitter, and conducted in-depth interviews with six Afghan women.

According to the interviews, the growth of abusive messages on the internet contributed to women becoming targeted. The respondents specifically mentioned getting texts containing pornographic content as well as threats of sexual assault and death.

Associated Press reports that the study identified four general themes in the abusive posts: accusations of promiscuity, the belief that politically active women violated cultural and religious norms, allegations the women were agents of the West, and accusations of making false claims in order to seek asylum abroad.

An interviewee further stated that the abusive posts are a reflection of the users' actual hatred, "I think the hatred they show on social media does not differ from what they feel in real life."

Taliban Takeover as a Factor

Associated Press notes that according to the lead investigator, Francesca Gentile, "since the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, social media has turned from being a place for social and political expression to a forum for abuse and suppression, especially of women."

As part of draconian restrictions enacted after taking power in 2021, as US and NATO forces were withdrawing from Afghanistan after two decades of war, the Taliban restricted women from most sectors of public life and work and prevented girls from attending education beyond the sixth grade."

The Taliban's hostility towards women and their rights sends a message to online abusers that any woman who stands up for herself is fair game," he said.

One female journalist, commenting on the condition of anonymity to Afghan Witness, said she disabled several of her social media accounts and no longer reads comments, which hinders her job when attempting to contact online sources.

Afghan Women on 'Gender Apartheid'

This 'gender apartheid' has long been protested by Afghan women, with others recently launching a 12-day hunger strike last September 21, 2023.

Afghan witness states that the women's activists demanded that, along with Afghanistan's 'gender apartheid' be recognized, financial assistance and official visits to Taliban leaders should also be halted, and that political prisoners be released immediately.

Online abuse was also evident during this hunger strike. Despite the women garnering significant support on social media, they also faced a barrage of abuse and hate speech from accounts that appeared to be pro-Taliban.

Many of the tweets advocated for an end to 'gender apartheid' in Afghanistan, but the campaign's harsh reaction exposes views against female activists in the pro-Taliban internet community.

Pro-Taliban X users responded to the hunger strike posts with a variety of comments that tended to criticize the ladies, undercut their goals, or laud the Taliban.