KABUL: The Afghan Taliban ordered a ban on TikTok and PUBG games on Thursday, saying that they were not good for the country’s youth.
The apps “made the young generation go astray”, the cabinet said in a statement, adding the telecommunications ministry had been ordered to shut them down.
It also directed the ministry to stop TV channels from showing “immoral material”, although little is being broadcast beyond news and religious content.
The phone apps are popular among Afghans, who have been left with few outlets for entertainment since the group returned to power last year and banned music, movies, and television soaps.
Despite promising a softer version of the rule that characterised their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban have slowly introduced suffocating restrictions on social life — particularly for women.
Most secondary schools for girls remain shuttered, and women are barred from many government jobs and traveling abroad or even between cities unless accompanied by an adult male relative.
Just over 9 million people have access to the internet across Afghanistan, a country of around 38 million people, according to figures published in January from Data Reportat, an independent data collector. There are around 4 million social media users, with Facebook being the most popular.
