Taliban seizing domains to silence journalists
The Taliban is attempting to close down independent media outlets in Afghanistan by deleting their .af domain names.
The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology tweeted that the sites of Hasht-e Subh Daily and Zawia News were “taken down” for publishing “unbalanced reports and fake news”.
د هشت صبح او زاویه نیوز خبري شبکو وېبسايټونه د مخابراتو او معلوماتي ټکنالوجۍ وزارت له لوري وټړل شول.
هشت صبح او زاویه نیوز خبري شبکې چې د افغانستان اسلامي امارت مشرانو پورې یې دروغجن تورونه تړل، بې توازنه راپورونه او کاذب خبرونه یې خپرول د یوې فیصلې پر بنسټ یې وبسایټونه ؤتړل شول pic.twitter.com/cexPduvMjT— Anayatullah Alokozay (@Anayatalokozay) October 3, 2022
.af’s registry is government-run.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the two sites have been reporting by Afghans in exile since the Taliban retook the country over a year ago.
Both outlets have now switched domains to TLDs based in the US — Verisign and Identity Digital, where presumably they’re pretty safe from the Taliban’s reach. They’re now using zawiamedia.com and 8am.media instead of the original .af names.
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