No Faces on Screen: Taliban Bans Visual Reporting in Afghan Media
New Delhi: The Taliban has sharply expanded its crackdown on visual media, ordering Afghan outlets to stop airing “images of living beings” under a sweeping “morality law” signed last year. Authorities this week summoned media organisations and online creators—including YouTubers—in Herat province and directed them to halt the broadcast of images showing people or other animated beings, according to reports by Kabul Now.
UN warns T@liban’s rule deepens repression in Afghanistan. Women and girls face bans from education and work, minorities are marginalized, and journalists targeted, signaling a severe human rights crisis with wider regional security implications. pic.twitter.com/2CB0axkqAg
— HTN World (@htnworld) January 2, 2026
Visual reporting curtailed
The new instructions dramatically widen restrictions on visual journalism, barring filming or broadcasting of journalists, presenters and interviewees. The move comes amid mounting criticism of the regime’s broader curbs on literature, education and women’s rights.
Artists detained
Two veteran theatre artists—Gholam Farooq Sarkhosh and Firoz Ahmad Malaeka—were reportedly detained after voicing criticism of the ban, underscoring the risks faced by cultural workers and dissenting voices.
Orders now in force across most provinces
Issued jointly by the Taliban’s Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice and the Department of Information and Culture, the decree is now enforced in 23 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. At least 20 television stations have shut down as a result, Kabul Now reported.
Beyond content: dress codes for journalists
The clampdown extends beyond programming. Journalists have reportedly been instructed to grow beards and avoid neckties, further tightening controls on professional conduct and appearance.
Audio-only newsrooms
As the rules rolled out, many broadcasters have been forced to operate audio-only, replacing video of people with shots of buildings or landscapes while airing voices in the background. Others have abandoned video altogether, effectively erasing on-screen identities.
A law with wide reach
The measures stem from the Taliban’s morality law signed in August 2024 by leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, envisaged to be implemented gradually. By prohibiting images of people, critics say, the policy strips individuals of visibility and voice in the public sphere.
Press freedom in free fall
Afghanistan’s media space—once considered a post-2001 success—has deteriorated sharply since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Official guidance for journalists includes bans on content deemed “contrary to Islam,” insulting to “national figures,” or violating privacy, alongside demands for “balanced” reporting.
According to journalists in exile, the restrictions have dismantled independent journalism, noting that of roughly 12,000 media workers active before 2021, only about 4,500 remain. Afghanistan ranked 175th of 180 in last year’s World Press Freedom Index.
Women and online creators targeted
The Taliban has also imposed severe limits on women’s voices in public and media spaces, and targeted online creators. A 2024 report by UNAMA documented arrests of TikTok and YouTube creators for satire or criticism.
Propaganda networks expand
Separately, the Afghanistan Journalists Center reports that the Taliban has built overt and covert propaganda networks across television, radio and social media, coordinated by the intelligence directorate to amplify official narratives.
With images banned and voices constrained, Afghanistan’s media landscape is being pushed into the shadows—raising fresh alarms over free expression under the Taliban’s tightening moral regime.
