Online abuse of politically active Afghan women tripled after Taliban takeover, rights group reports

By RAHIM FAIEZ
Associated Press

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Rights group Afghan Witness says online abuse and hate speech targeting politically active Afghan women significantly increased since the Taliban took over the country in August 2021. The report released Monday says the group found that abusive posts tripled in the last half of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. The group’s investigators analyzed over 78,000 posts written in the local languages of Dari and Pashto that were directed at almost 100 accounts of politically active Afghan women. They also conducted in-depth interviews with some women and found that the spread of online abuse helped normalize violence in real life.