Taliban Public Relations Department

Submission 10,155

Part of a series on 2021 Taliban Offensive in Afghanistan. [View Related Entries]

About

Taliban Public Relations Department is a satirical gimmick account on Twitter that pretends to be a public relations department of Afghanistan's ruling fundamentalist militant political movement Taliban. Active since January 2023, the account achieved virality in March 2023 thanks to its subtle trolling of Western audiences.

History

On January 29th, 2023, the Twitter^[1] gimmick account Taliban Public Relations Department, Commentary (@TalibanPRD) became active for the first time, posting its first several tweets^[2]^[3]^[4] on that day (shown below). The account is a satire of what a public relations department for the Taliban could be, with its tweets being supportive of Islamic fundamentalism and conservative values while mocking liberal values.

The account remained relatively unnoticed until early March 2023 when it responded to a tweet^[5]^[6] asking for its favorite album by cloud rapper Bladee. The tweet (shown below, right) gained over 2,100 retweets and 9,200 likes in one month.

On March 6th, 2023, @TalibanPRD launched a poll^[7] asking if Afghanistan should lift a ban on Bladee's music, which gained over 640 retweets and 1,500 likes in one month (shown below, left). On March 7th, the account then shared^[8] the results of the poll (shown below, right).

In mid-March 2023, the account again went viral after posting^[9] that Lord Miles, a person famous for traveling to military hotspots, was missing in the country (shown below, left). The tweet gained over 1,700 retweets and 15,800 likes in three weeks. Later that day, Twitter^[10] user @Shadezey tweeted about the rumor, stating they were not sure if this was trolling. The tweet (shown below, right) gained over 280 retweets and 5,200 likes in two weeks.

More tweets^[11]^[12]^[13] posted by the account in the second half of March 2023 went viral, including tweets about manosphere influencer Andrew Tate, a reply to Hillary Clinton and an Early Life meme.

Features

Taliban Public Relations Department posts tweets that are supportive of Islamic fundamentalism and conservative values and critical of liberal values. The account incorporates references to elements of modern media and memes, with its tweets aiming to troll unsuspecting social media in a subtle manner.

Traffic

As of April 4th, 2023, @TalibanPRD had over 78,000 followers on Twitter.

MEMRI TV

MEMRI TV is a news channel by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) which translates Middle Eastern media into English. Online,^[1] the channel has gained much notoriety for its absurd translations of news programs, many of which have spawned photoshops of screenshots showing false or edited subtitles.