Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn said they had secured the accounts of Afghan citizens to protect them from being targeted amid the Taliban’s takeover of the country. Facebook has temporarily removed the facility for people to search the accounts from Afghanistan, its security policy head Nathaniel Gleicher tweeted. Gleicher also said that the company had begun a “one-click tool” for users in Afghanistan to lock their accounts, so people who are not their Facebook friends can’t see their posts or share their profile photos.

Human rights societies have raised concerns that the Taliban can use online platforms to track Afghans social connections. Amnesty International said that thousands of Afghans, including academics, journalists and human rights defenders, are at serious risk of Taliban counterattacks.

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Twitter said it was in touch with civil society associates to support groups in the country and was working with the Internet Archive to remove archived tweets. It said if a person is unable to login into their account, which contains information that can put them at risk, the company will temporarily suspend the accounts until users recover access to funds and are delete their posts. Twitter also said it was monitoring accounts connected with government organisations and can temporarily suspend accounts until confirming their identity.