- On February 1, the Myanmar army staged a coup.
- In response to the military coup in Myanmar, Facebook is censoring the accounts of the coup leaders.
- Facebook said the accounts “continued to spread misinformation,” forcing the moderators to act.
–
On February 1, on the brink of the inauguration of a newly elected government, the Myanmar military announced a coup.
The basis of the coup, he said, was allegations of widespread electoral fraud in the previous year’s elections. Even though those claims were repeatedly discredited and the election results confirmed, the military-backed Union, Solidarity and Development Party seized power from the government after losing the country’s November elections by an overwhelming majority.
Facebook said it is treating the situation “as an emergency.” For the same, is limiting communications from the Myanmar army and the army spokesmanhe said this week.
The company said it will “significantly reduce the distribution of all content on Facebook pages and profiles managed by the Myanmar Army (‘Tatmadaw’) that have continued to spread misinformation.” That includes the army spokesman and his “information team,” and could apply more broadly, “to any additional pages that the army controls and that repeatedly violate our disinformation policies,” Facebook said.
These pages and profiles will also be excluded from the recommendations.
Facebook already has a troubled record in Myanmar
Facebook has been criticized for being too lax in its restraint efforts with politicians, particularly former President Donald Trump. It was not until the attempted insurrection on January 6 and the subsequent message from Trump that Facebook decided to suspend his account.
In particular, Facebook has prior experience with moderating sensitive users in Myanmar: the service played a role in the ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Rohingya population in the country, said Mark Zuckerberg in 2018.
“One Saturday morning, I received a phone call and we detected that people were trying to spread sensational messages through Facebook Messenger in this case, on each side of the conflict; basically saying to the Muslims, ‘Hey, there’s going to be an uprising by the Buddhists, so make sure you’re armed and go to this place.’ And then the same on the other side, “Zuckerberg told Ezra Klein the Vox.
Facebook said it is determined not to let that happen again. “We are keeping an eye on emerging trends,” the company said, “and will not hesitate to take additional action as appropriate.”
NOW READ: Mexican messaging app Bridgefy exceeds one million downloads in Myanmar after coup
ALSO READ: Myanmar Army Blocks Facebook Due to Coup Protests
Discover more stories at Business Insider México
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn Y Twitter.
–
