Facebook bans Myanmar military from its platforms
Facebook on Thursday said it had banned Myanmar’s military from its platforms, Facebook and Instagram.
Facebook said in a blog post, "Events since the February 1 coup, including deadly violence, have precipitated a need for this ban.”
Facebook’s ban came due to what the company calls “severe human rights abuses” and a “clear risk of future military-initiated violence.”
The company added it would also ban advertisements from all military-linked “commercial entities.”
The army detained Democratic party leaders earlier this month, including the popular figure, Aung San Suu Kyi, after alleging fraud in the November election in which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy had won in a landslide.
In 2018, Facebook banned Myanmar’s army chief and 19 other senior officers and organizations, and took down hundreds of accounts run by military members for spreading false or propaganda content.
Ahead of the most recent November elections, Facebook announced it had taken down a network of 70 fake accounts and pages operated by members of the military.
Despite those efforts, the tech giant said on Thursday that attempts had been made to rebuild those army-run networks on its platform.
