Google has removed Taliban's app 'Alemarah', launched on Friday, 1 April, from play store. The app, which was in Pashto, was launched to spread propaganda messages and videos of the group.
The search giant told AFP that this action is countering the tech-savvy Afghan militant group's increasing efforts to boost global visibility. The Taliban's spokesperson told AFP that they were building a Farsi version of the app as well.
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Taliban, which is not considered a tech-savvy organization is now slowly following on the footsteps of ISIS to foray into the social media world. Earlier Taliban believed that all the electronic items are un-islamic. ISIS has a separate cyber cell which handles all the activites related to technology.
In January ISIS even started a 'Help Desk' to guide terrorists on how to evade the western authorities on the social media. They also released a 34-paged guideline for terrorists on which apps and websites to use while communicating with each other. They have taken years to make a group call The Electronic Horizon Foundation (EHF) which publishes even encrypted android apps for messaging.
Taliban and ISIS have turned to the world wide web for recruitment as well. The Islamic State has used social media in India to lure people to join their organization.
"In this era of IS and its disturbingly tech-savvy ways, many of the older guard militant groups like the Afghan Taliban may feel they're losing out," Michael Kugelman, Afghanistan expert at the Washington-based think tank the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, told AFP.
Recently, Google removed a Pakistani app called SmeshApp which was used for spying on Indian Army officers.
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The search giant told AFP that this action is countering the tech-savvy Afghan militant group's increasing efforts to boost global visibility. The Taliban's spokesperson told AFP that they were building a Farsi version of the app as well.
Taliban, which is not considered a tech-savvy organization is now slowly following on the footsteps of ISIS to foray into the social media world. Earlier Taliban believed that all the electronic items are un-islamic. ISIS has a separate cyber cell which handles all the activites related to technology.
In January ISIS even started a 'Help Desk' to guide terrorists on how to evade the western authorities on the social media. They also released a 34-paged guideline for terrorists on which apps and websites to use while communicating with each other. They have taken years to make a group call The Electronic Horizon Foundation (EHF) which publishes even encrypted android apps for messaging.
Taliban and ISIS have turned to the world wide web for recruitment as well. The Islamic State has used social media in India to lure people to join their organization.
"In this era of IS and its disturbingly tech-savvy ways, many of the older guard militant groups like the Afghan Taliban may feel they're losing out," Michael Kugelman, Afghanistan expert at the Washington-based think tank the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, told AFP.
Recently, Google removed a Pakistani app called SmeshApp which was used for spying on Indian Army officers.
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