Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has closed an account owned by the Pakistan Taliban that was used to recruit people to write for a quarterly magazine and to edit videos.
The militant group, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was reportedly hiring contributors for a new quarterly magazine called Ahyah-e-Khilafat. As of Friday evening, last week, the page from the militant group had 281 “likes”. As per the Washington Post, most of the posts on the page were in English, mostly bland, PG-rated job postings for positions like video editor, translator, and writer of “jihadi current affairs” and Islamic movements. The page had an email address and urged readers to ”plz spread’ the message.
A TTP spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, confirmed last week, that the group was “temporarily” using the page “to fulfil its requirements” before launching its own website. Describing the publication as its “official quarterly magazine”, the TTP Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) page, asked writers to submit articles “on (a) topic of your choice”, or on jihadi current affairs, history, Islamic movements, or the plight of Muslims.
Created in late October, the page has posted a number of messages offering job opportunities. One such message reads: “Umar Media is proud to announce online jobs opportunities [sic]. Job discription [sic] is video editing, translations, sharing, uploading, downloading, and collection of required data”.
Another job advert posted on the page by the TTP reads: “Pen is mightier than the sword,”
“Now you have a chance to use this mighty weapon,” and invites budding journalists to write for the “Anyah-e-Khilafat”.
The Search for International Terrorist Entities (SITE) Intelligence Group, a US-based organization, said that the TTP uses Facebook as a “recruitment center.” In a statement, SITE said: “Through its official media arm, Umar Media, the TTP has taken to Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) to recruit contributors for their media work and the group’s forthcoming publication, ‘Ayah-E-Khilafat’”.
The shut down page belongs to the same group which claimed responsibility for “the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in December 2007 … and the assassination attempt on Malala Yousafzai, the 15-year-old Pakistani girl who had defied the Taliban’s attempts to deny girls an education,” according to the LA Times.
The FBI in the past has monitored the social network as a part of certain terrorist investigations and has also used it as evidence in some of the cases.
