Facebook blocks accounts linked to the Army in Myanmar

Riot police, this Thursday in Yangon.LYNN BO BO / EFE

The technology company Facebook announced this Thursday that it is blocking the Myanmar Army, which took power after a coup on February 1, on its platforms, both on the Facebook social network itself and on Instagram with "immediate effect."

The US conglomerate admitted in the past to having failed to intercept the use of its networks for purposes of "incitement to hatred and violence", after it was accused of allowing propaganda against the Muslim minority Rohingya, the victim of a possible genocide by of the Burmese Armed Forces after a military campaign between 2016 and 2017.

"The events that have occurred since the February 1 coup, including violence and fatalities, have precipitated the need for this ban," said Facebook.

"We believe that the risks of allowing the Tatmadaw [as the Burmese Army is known] to use Facebook and Instagram" are too high, "he adds.

The Burmese Army carried out a coup on February 1, alleging unsubstantiated fraud during the elections last November, which gave the National League for Democracy (NLD) the victory of the Nobel Prize for the Paz Aung San Suu Kyi.

Since then, Suu Kyi and hundreds of politicians, activists and civilians have been detained and the Junta has formed a government not recognized by the international community.

The coup is facing massive protests in Myanmar, where hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets of cities across the country.

At least three protesters have died due to several episodes of police violence during the protests, as well as a police officer, according to authorities.

The US technology giant has assured that it will also block all "entities linked to the Tatmadaw" on its platforms.

Aside from being the largest landowner in the country, the Army controls much of Burmese's most lucrative sectors through business conglomerates.

His decision, the company adds, follows "severe human rights abuses and the clear risk of Myanmar falling into a spiral of violence incited by the military."

Likewise, it responds to the "long history of the Army of violating Facebook's rules, before and after the coup."

• A young girl dies from a gunshot wound during Myanmar's pro-democracy protests

Facebook is widely used in Myanmar, where today 54 million Burmese have access to the internet and 22 million have accounts on that social network.

After admitting not having done enough to stop a campaign of incitement to hatred through its platforms against the Rohingya minority - a victim of murders, rapes and persecutions by the Armed Forces, which led to the flight of more than 700,000 people to the neighboring Bangladesh between August and September 2017—, largely promoted by the Tatmadaw, Facebook increased its contact with Burmese civil society and democratic political groups.

In 2018, it banned the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and current strongman of the Burmese regime, Min Aung Hlaing, and 19 other members of the Army and organizations, and censored hundreds of pages linked to the Tatmadaw.

Before last November's elections, he also announced the suspension of 70 false accounts that published propaganda for the Army and against Suu Kyi.

The Army itself has also taken measures against Facebook and other social networks, widely used by protesters to call protests.

Shortly after the coup, he ordered the blocking of Facebook, currently only accessible - as well as Instagram or Twitter - through virtual private networks or VPNs, which allow encrypted connections to be established.

The military keeps telecommunications cut off overnight, and is preparing a controversial cybersecurity law that would give the regime access to users' personal information for security reasons, seen by critics as another tool of repression.