Facebook announced on Thursday that it is removing all military and military-controlled pages from Myanmar from its website and Instagram, which it owns.
He said he would also block advertising for companies linked to the military.
The decision follows a February 1 coup in which the military removed elected leaders from power and arrested others. Days after the coup, the military temporarily blocked access to Facebook because it was being used to share anti-coup comments and organize protests.
Here’s a look at Facebook’s role in Myanmar and what the ban on military pages means.
WHAT IS FACEBOOK’S ROLE IN MYANMAR?
For decades, Myanmar was 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 SIM cards for cell phones plummeted, opening up a new user market.
Facebook was quick to capitalize on the changes and soon began to be used by government agencies and retailers 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 NapoleonCat social media management platform. For many in the country, Facebook is effectively the internet.
“Facebook’s role is vital in the country,” said Nickey Diamond, a human rights expert in Myanmar at the Fortify Rights group. “In Myanmar, Facebook is one of the most important communication platforms for the people.”
WHAT PROBLEMS DOES FACEBOOK FACE IN MYANMAR?
The social media platform has faced accusations of not doing enough to crack down on hate speech in the country.
In a 2018 report on army-led violence that forced more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to neighboring Bangladesh, Marzuki Darusman, head of the UN Investigative Mission in Myanmar, said Facebook “contributed substantially to the level of acrimony and dissension and conflict. “He added:” Hate speech is certainly part of that. ”
Under pressure from the UN and international human rights groups, Facebook banned around 20 Myanmar military individuals and organizations in 2018, including Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, for involvement in serious human rights violations.
WHY IS FACEBOOK PROHIBITING MORE PAGES CONNECTED TO MILITARY NOW?
After the coup, Facebook said it would reduce the distribution of all content from the Myanmar military, called Tatmadaw, on its website, while removing content that violated 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 companies linked to the military.
“Events since 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 very great, ”said the company in a note.
The ban covers the Air Force, the Navy, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Border Affairs, said Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Facebook’s policy communications manager.
Facebook 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 HAVE?
The decision deprives the military of its largest communication platform.
“This is a welcome and much-anticipated step from Facebook,” said Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, in an e-mailed statement. “In a country where Facebook is so popular, it is a psychological blow to the military. They invested a lot of resources in using Facebook for propaganda purposes, to recruit soldiers and raise funds. “
Facebook said it expects the military to try to regain a presence on the platform.
“In cases like these, we are working to be as accurate as possible, but we know that we may lose some and we will continue to refine our application,” said Lefevre.
Facebook declined to say how much revenue it hopes to forgo the loss of advertising by companies linked to the military.
___
The Associated Press Department of Health and Science receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.