Facebook announced on Thursday that it is removing all remaining military and military pages from Myanmar from its website and Instagram, which it also owns.
He said he would also block advertising from military-related businesses.
The decision followed a February 1 coup in which the army removed elected leaders from power and imprisoned others. Days after the coup, the military temporarily blocked access to Facebook because it was used to share anti-coup comments and organize protests.
Here’s a look at Facebook’s role in Myanmar and what it means to ban military pages.
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF FACEBOOK IN MYANMAR?
For decades, Myanmar has been one of the least connected countries in the world, with less than 5% of the population using the Internet in 2012, according to the International Telecommunication Union. When telecommunications began to be deregulated by a quasi-civilian government in 2013, the price of mobile phone SIM cards fell, opening a new market for users.
Facebook was quick to capitalize on the changes and soon began to be used by both government agencies and merchants alike to communicate.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, had more than 22.3 million Facebook users in January 2020, more than 40% of its population, according to the social network management platform NapoleonCat. For many in the country, Facebook is actually the Internet.
“Facebook’s role is vital in the country,” said Nickey Diamond, a Myanmar human rights specialist with the Fortify Rights group. “In Myanmar, Facebook is one of the most important communication platforms for people.”
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM OF FACEBOOK IN MYANMAR?
The social networking platform has been accused of not doing enough to stifle hate speech in the country.
In a 2018 report on military-led violence that forced more than 700,000 ethnic Rohingya Muslims to flee to neighboring Bangladesh, Marzuki Darusman, head of the UN Intelligence Mission in Myanmar, said Facebook “contributed substantially to the level of of acrimony and dissension and conflict. “He added:” Hate speech is, of course, part of that. ”
Under pressure from the UN and international human rights groups, Facebook banned about 20 people and organizations linked to the Myanmar army in 2018, including Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, for involvement in serious human rights violations.
WHY BAN ON FACEBOOK MORE MILITARY LINKED PAGES NOW?
Following the coup, Facebook said it would reduce the distribution of all content from the Myanmar army called Tatmadaw on its website, while removing content that violates its community standards, including hate speech.
Facebook announced on Thursday that it will ban all remaining Myanmar military entities from Facebook and Instagram, as well as ads from military-related businesses.
“The events of the February 1 coup, including deadly violence, have precipitated the need for this ban. We believe that the risks of allowing Tatmadaw on Facebook and Instagram are too high, “the company said in a statement.
The ban covers the Air Force, Navy, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Border Affairs, said Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Facebook’s policy communications manager.
Facebook has said it will leave pages that contribute to public welfare, including those of the Ministry of Health and Sports and the Ministry of Education.
WHAT IMPACT WILL IT BE?
The decision concerns the military as the largest communication platform.
“This is a welcome step in Facebook for a long time,” said Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, in an emailed statement. “In a country where Facebook was so popular, it’s a psychological blow to the military. They put a lot of resources into using Facebook for propaganda purposes, to recruit soldiers and to raise funds. ”
Facebook said it expects the military to try to regain a presence on the platform.
“In such cases, we are working to be as accurate as possible, but we know that we may be missing some and we will continue to refine our application,” Lefevre said.
Facebook declined to say how much revenue it expects to give up from losing advertising from military-related companies.
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