Donald Trump Jr. Sides With Taliban Against Big Tech As Facebook Rant Goes Viral

Donald Trump Jr. appears to agree with the Taliban on at least one issue: that Facebook is engaged in censorship.

The militant group has seized power in Afghanistan after insurgents stormed across the country and captured major cities in a matter of days. On Tuesday, members of the Taliban gave a press conference from the presidential palace in Kabul.

When asked about freedom of speech under Afghanistan's new government, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid deflected the question, saying it should be posed to Facebook instead.

"This question should be asked to those people who are claiming to be promoters of freedom of speech who do not allow publication of full information… I can ask Facebook company," he said, according to an interpreter. "This question should be asked to them."

A clip of the press conference posted on Twitter went viral, amassing more than 3 million views. Trump Jr., the eldest child of former President Donald Trump, retweeted the clip, adding: "LOL... Also not wrong."

The Taliban have long used social media to spread their message.

But Facebook confirmed this week that it would continue to ban Taliban content on its platforms, including Instagram and WhatsApp, because of the group's classification as a terrorist organization.

"The Taliban is sanctioned as a terrorist organization under U.S. law and they are banned from our services under our Dangerous Organization policies," a Facebook spokesperson told Newsweek.

"This means we remove accounts maintained by or on behalf of the Taliban and prohibit praise, support, and representation of them."

The company spokesperson added that Facebook had "a dedicated team of regional experts helping to identify and alert us to emerging issues on the platform."

The social media giant doesn't make decisions about whether it should recognize national governments, the spokesperson said, but "respects the authority of the international community in making these determinations. Regardless of who holds power, we will take the appropriate action against accounts and content that breaks our rules."

TikTok told CNBC that it has designated the Taliban a terrorist organization and continues to remove content that praises, glorifies or provides support to them.

Twitter, meanwhile, has come under fire for allowing Taliban members to post on the platform. Mujahid shared live updates of the group's takeover of Afghanistan on his account.

Asked for comment about the Taliban's use of the site, a company spokesperson told Newsweek that Twitter would "continue to proactively enforce our rules and review content that may violate Twitter Rules, specifically policies against glorification of violence and platform manipulation and spam."

Former President Trump announced last month that he was suing three of the country's biggest tech companies, alleging he and other conservatives had been wrongfully censored.

The former president has been barred from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, which is owned by Google, since the riots on January 6, when his followers stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden's election victory.

Trump is suspended from Facebook for at least two years after the company's Oversight Board criticized the open-ended nature of the initial penalty.

Trump Jr. has been contacted for additional comment.