Online Abuse of Afghan Women Skyrockets Post-Taliban Takeover

A report by Afghan Witness reveals a 217% increase in abusive posts targeting politically active women since the Taliban's ascension.

Online abuse and hate speech targeting politically active women in Afghanistan has significantly increased since the Taliban took over the country in Aug. 2021, according to a report by a U.K.-based rights group, Afghan Witness.
The report found that abusive posts tripled, a 217% increase, between June-December 2021 and the same period of 2022.
The team of investigators collected and analyzed over 78,000 posts written in Dari and Pashto directed at almost 100 accounts of politically active Afghan women.
The report identified four general themes in the abusive posts: accusations of promiscuity; the belief that politically active women violated cultural and religious norms; allegations the women were agents of the West; and accusations of making false claims in order to seek asylum abroad.
The report found the vast majority of those behind the online abuse were men, from a range of political affiliations, ethnic groups, and backgrounds.