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FACEBOOK-MYANMAR-ARMY CHIEF
Facebook bans Myanmar army chief
DHAKA, Aug 27, 2018 (BSS) – Social media giant Facebook today banned 20 individuals and organizations in Myanmar – including Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and the military’s Myawady television network.
Facebook took the steps after UN investigators said the Myanmar army chief and five generals should be prosecuted for genocide over a crackdown on Rohingya people.
“Specifically, we are banning 20 individuals and organizations from Facebook in Myanmar – including Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and the military’s Myawady television network. International experts, most recently in a report by the UN Human Rights Council-authorized Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, have found evidence that many of these individuals and organizations committed or enabled serious human rights abuses in the country,” it said in a statement on its site.
“And we want to prevent them from using our service to further inflame ethnic and religious tensions. This has led us to remove six Pages and six accounts from Facebook – and one account from Instagram – which are connected to these individuals and organizations. We have not found a presence on Facebook or Instagram for all 20 individuals and organizations we are banning,” said Facebook.
It said the ethnic violence in Myanmar has been truly horrific. Earlier this month, Facebook shared an update on the steps it is taking to prevent the spread of hate and misinformation on Facebook.
Today, Facebook is taking more action in Myanmar, removing a total of 18 Facebook accounts, one Instagram account and 52 Facebook Pages, followed by almost 12 million people.
“We are preserving data, including content, on the accounts and Pages we have removed,” it added.
“We continue to work to prevent the misuse of Facebook in Myanmar – including through the independent human rights impact assessment we commissioned earlier in the year,” said the social media in the statement.
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