Pro-military supporters throw projectiles at Yangon residents on February 25, 2021, after weeks of mass demonstrations against the military coup.
Sai Aung Main | AFP | Getty Images
SINGAPORE – Myanmar’s army has been banned from using Facebook and Instagram immediately, Facebook said in a blog post on Thursday.
“Events since the February 1 coup, including deadly violence, have created a need for this ban. We believe the risks of allowing the Tatmadaw on Facebook and Instagram are too great,” the statement said. official name of the armed forces of Myanmar. .
Military controlled state and media companies will also be blocked from the two social media platforms, while commercial enterprises linked to the military will not be able to do advertising.
The coup increases the danger posed by the behavior above, and the likelihood that online threats could lead to offline harm.
The ban does not affect government ministries and agencies that provide essential public services, such as the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education, the social media giant said.
Myanmar’s army took power on February 1 after arresting members of the democratically elected government, including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The military claimed there was voter fraud in last year’s election and declared a one-year state of emergency.
Thousands of people protested the coup, and clashes with authorities sometimes turned violent. At least three protesters and one policeman have been killed so far.
Facebook said the content had been removed from military pages in recent years and that it violated community standards and that Tatmadaw was abusing the platform.
The company will now suspend military bills “indefinitely”, the company said, citing reasons such as the military’s history of “extremely serious human rights violations and the clear risk of future military-initiated violence in Myanmar.”
It added that the military was trying to rebuild networks involving misrepresentation and upload content previously removed for violating Facebook’s policies on violence, incitement and coordination of damage.
“The coup increases the danger posed by the behavior above, and significantly increases the likelihood that online threats could lead to offline harm,” Facebook said.
A report commissioned by Facebook found in 2018 that the social media giant had previously failed to prevent the platform from being “used to incite divisions and incite offline violence.”
“We agree that we can and should do more,” Facebook said at the time.
In 2018, the technology giant banned military-linked individuals and organizations, including junta leader Min Aung Hlaing, the general who drafted the recent coup.