Summary:
The Myanmar crisis began in August 2017, leading to nearly 7,00,000 Rohingyas fleeing their homes and crossing into neighbouring Bangladesh. The social network was identified as a factor in contributing to ethnic tension and violence. This led to the platform cracking down on user accounts of the military leadership of that country.
Allegations:
- In March 2018, a United Nations investigator said that Facebook was used to incite violence and hatred against the Rohingya community. The platform, she said, had “turned into a beast.”
- An investigative report from Reuters found more than 1,000 inflammatory posts, comments and images against Rohingya and other Muslim users on the platform.
- There were counter-allegations from the Myanmar's military against Facebook's decision to ban individuals and organisations linked to the military, claiming this went against the democratic point of view and were harmful to national reconciliation.
Defence:
- Facebook removed accounts belonging to Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and the military-owned Myawady television network. The company deleted 52 Facebook accounts and an Instagram account after finding evidence of serious human rights abuses on them.
- “During a recent investigation, we discovered that they used seemingly independent news and opinion Pages to covertly push the messages of the Myanmar military. This type of behaviour is banned on Facebook because we want people to be able to trust the connections they make,” Facebook said in a statement.
- Facebook spokeswoman Ruchika Budhraja told Reuters that it was the first time that it had banned a country's military or political leader. These bans could not be appealed as they were a result of findings of human rights violations based on United Nations findings.