Skip to content
World Watch

Online safety & content laws in Afghanistan (2026)

Online safety rules in Afghanistan: heavy restriction.

Afghanistan under Taliban rule operates no consumer-protection or online-safety framework comparable to the EU DSA or UK OSA. Internet access is instead controlled through morality-based decrees by supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, which have produced repeated shutdowns, platform blocks, and, as of May 2026, orders to sever residential fibre-optic services in Kabul. The regime's approach is one of state suppression rather than safety regulation.

Last verified Official sources first · MethodologyCompare Afghanistan with other countries

Legal framework

Taliban supreme-leader decrees enforced via the Afghanistan Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ATRA) and Ministry of Communications & IT; no formal online-safety statute exists

Key points: internet & online safety in Afghanistan

  1. Supreme-leader morality decrees as primary control mechanism

    On 15 September 2025 Hibatullah Akhundzada issued a decree banning fibre-optic and WiFi services in Balkh, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Zabul and Nimruz provinces to 'prevent immorality', with stated intent to extend the ban nationwide. No legislative process or independent oversight applies.

    ohchr.org amnesty.org

  2. Nationwide internet shutdown, September-October 2025

    On 29 September 2025 Taliban authorities imposed a nationwide telecommunications blackout; Cloudflare and NetBlocks recorded less than 1% of normal traffic. Services were restored on 1 October 2025 without explanation, but targeted social-media restrictions (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat) followed on 7 October.

    blog.cloudflare.com rferl.org hrw.org

  3. May 2026 order to cut residential fibre in Kabul

    ATRA summoned internet providers in May 2026 and, on orders attributed to Mullah Abdul Ahad Fazli (appointed by Akhundzada specifically to tighten restrictions), directed them to disconnect residential fibre-optic services across the capital, threatening hundreds of jobs if implemented.

    afintl.com atlaspress.news

  4. Virtue and Vice Law restricts digital content

    The 2024 Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Law (Article 13 and related provisions) bans the production and viewing of images and video of living beings on computers and mobile phones, effectively criminalising mainstream internet use and social-media content.

    ohchr.org rsf.org

  5. ATRA surveillance mandate; no independent regulator

    ATRA, now folded into the Taliban Ministry of Communications & IT, is empowered to compel operators to monitor and hand over traffic data for 'harassing, offensive, or illegal' communications and national-security cases, with no judicial warrant requirement. It functions as an instrument of state control rather than an independent regulatory body.

    atra.gov.af mcit.gov.af

  6. UN condemnation; no age-verification or platform-liability rules

    In October 2025 UN human-rights experts formally condemned the restrictions as violations of freedom of expression and access to information. Afghanistan has no age-verification regime, no platform-liability framework, and no data-protection law in force.

    ohchr.org hrw.org

Sources

  1. ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/10/afghanistan-new-restrictions-telecommunicat
  2. amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/09/afghanistan-taliban-de-facto-authorities-must-
  3. blog.cloudflare.com/nationwide-internet-shutdown-in-afghanistan/
  4. hrw.org/news/2025/10/01/afghanistan-internet-shutdowns-imperil-rights
  5. rferl.org/a/taliban-restricting-social-media-afghanistan-internet-blackout/3355
  6. afintl.com/en/202605112124
  7. atlaspress.news/en/2026/05/16/taliban-orders-fiber-optic-internet-cut-kabul/
  8. rsf.org/en/afghanistan-disturbing-escalating-censorship-suffocating-free-pres
  9. atra.gov.af/
  10. mcit.gov.af/en

Next for Afghanistan: CybersecuritySectoral rules

Next topic

Orientation, not legal advice: verify against the primary sources linked above. Last verified 24 May 2026. Methodology & how to cite · State of Technology Regulation 2026