"Taliban's Afghanistan takeover presents fresh challenge for social media companies", 17 August 2021.

... Social media giant Facebook confirmed on Monday that it designates the Taliban a terrorist group and bans it and content supporting it from its platforms.

But Taliban members have reportedly continued to use Facebook's end-to-end encrypted messaging service WhatsApp to communicate directly with Afghanis...

A Facebook Inc spokesperson said the company was closely monitoring the situation... and that WhatsApp would take action on any accounts found to be linked with sanctioned organizations...

Taliban spokesmen... have tweeted updates... Asked about the Taliban's use of the platform, [Twitter] pointed to its policies against violent organizations and hateful conduct but did not answer Reuters questions about how it makes its classifications. Twitter's rules say it does not allow groups who promote terrorism or violence against civilians...

The companies... often depend on state designations or official international recognitions to determine who is allowed on their sites.

These also help determine who might be verified, allowed official state accounts or may receive special treatment for rule-breaking speech...

Alphabet Inc's YouTube, asked whether it has a ban or restrictions on the Taliban, declined to comment but said the video-sharing service relies on governments to define "Foreign Terrorist Organizations" (FTO) to guide the site's enforcement of its rules...