- On February 1, the army in Myanmar staged a coup.
- In response to the military coup in Myanmar, Facebook censors the leaders of the coup.
- Facebook said the accounts spread ‘wrong information’, forcing moderators to take action.
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On February 1, on the verge of swearing in a newly elected government, the army in Myanmar announces a coup.
The basis of the coup, he said, was allegations of widespread electoral fraud in the previous year’s election. Despite the fact that the allegations were repeatedly rejected and the outcome of the election confirmed, the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party seized power from the government after losing the country’s election in November on a large scale.
Facebook said it was treating the situation “as an emergency” and restricted communication between the Myanmar army and the army spokesman, he said this week.
The company said it would “significantly reduce the distribution of all content on Facebook pages and profiles created by the military in Myanmar (‘Tatmadaw’) which continued to spread misinformation. ‘ This includes the military spokesman and his ‘information team’, and can be applied more broadly, ‘to any additional pages that control the military and that repeatedly violate our policy on misinformation,’ Facebook said.
These pages and profiles will also be excluded from recommendations.
Facebook has been criticized for being too lax in moderating politicians, especially former President Donald Trump. Only with the attempted uprising on January 6 and the subsequent messages from Trump did Facebook suspend its account.
Notably, Facebook had experience with sensitive user moderation in Myanmar – the service played a role in the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim population in the country, Mark Zuckerberg said in 2018.
‘On a Saturday morning I got a call and we noticed that people were trying to spread sensational messages – it was in this case Facebook Messenger – to every side of the conflict, and basically said to the Muslims,’ Hey, there goes soon a revolt of the Buddhists, so make sure you are armed and go to this place. “And then the same thing on the other side,” Zuckerberg told Vox’s Ezra Klein.
Facebook has said it is determined not to let that happen again. “We remain alert to emerging trends,” the company said, “and will not hesitate to take additional measures as appropriate.”