KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has forced several TikTok users to publicly apologize for their online activities, after announcing it would monitor social media usage.
In the most recent case, a video was released featuring a TikTok user named Abdul Basir, who says he spent seven days as a “guest” of the minister and a deputy minister at the Taliban’s Ministry of Virtue and Vice.
The video was posted on a newly created X account called “Afghanistan News” and reshared by Saif-ul-Islam Khyber, spokesperson for the ministry.
In the video, Abdul Basir says he used to be a “bad TikToker” but is now a “good TikToker.” He adds that he previously went live on TikTok with foreign girls without hijab and was “on the wrong path.”
He claims that Taliban officials summoned him, “advised” and “guided” him, and that he is now “pleased.”
It is unclear under what circumstances the video was recorded.
The ministry’s spokesperson had previously published similar videos featuring two other TikTok users—Haroon Pakora and Sher Ali Mubarez—who also expressed regret for their activities on the platform, especially going live with girls without hijab.
In those videos, the users urged others to use TikTok “in the service of Islam and religion.”
The Taliban ministry earlier warned that “improper and immoral use of social media would be legally prosecuted.” Spokesperson Khyber stated that no one has the right to use social platforms for “wrong or immoral purposes.”
Since retaking power, the Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on free speech and the media, including heavy censorship. They have repeatedly arrested and imprisoned social media users for expressing their views online.
