FB bans four Myanmar rebel groups
FACEBOOK has black listed four more of Myanmar’s et hnic rebel groups, t he platform announced on Tuesday as it struggles to control rampant hate speech, misinformation and incitement on its platform.
For years t he socia l media giant has been lambasted for its slow and ineffectua l response to incendiar y posts, particularly against t he countr y’s Rohing ya Muslims.
The company has embarked on a huge PR campaign over the last year to prove it is ta k ing action in a countr y with an estimated 20 million Facebook accounts.
The latest rebel organisations to have been banned are the Arakan Army (A A), Myanmar Nationa l Democratic Alliance Army (MNDA A), Kachin Independence Army (KI A) and Taaung National Liberation Army (TNL A).
“These armed groups are now banned from Facebook and all related praise, support and representation will be removed as soon as we become aware of it,” Facebook’s news page said.
“There is clear evidence that these organisations have been responsible for attacks against civilians and have engaged in violence in Myanmar, and we want to prevent them from using our ser vices to further inflame tensions on the ground.”
Hardline nationa list monks and even top militar y genera ls – who UN investigators say should face prosecution for genocide for t heir crackdow n against the Rohing ya – were k icked of f t he site last year.
Hundreds of pages and accounts with hidden links to t he armed forces were also removed in December.
Likew ise, t he Rohing ya militant group, whose August 2017 attacks were used by the militar y as a justification for its bruta l campaign, is a lready black listed.
The newest rebel groups to be k icked off the site are among some t wo dozen ethnic armed organisations fighting decades-old conflicts over autonomy, identit y, territor y and natura l resources.
Since 2016, the four have clubbed toget her in an a llia nce, ref using to enter bilatera l peace ta lks wit h t he government.
In December, t he militar y announced a temporar y ceasefire in the troubled northeast of the countr y but has continued to pound A A rebels i n Myanmar’s beleaguered Rakhine state in v iolence t hat has seen severa l thousand displaced.
Facebook said the government had flagged up content posted by t he rebel groups severa l times but said t he decision to black list t hem had been interna l.
The platform has tried to repair its battered reputation, improving the speed with which hate speech is taken down and boosting the number of Myanmar-language reviewers.
It confirmed it now employs more than 100 staff who speak Burmese – including some who can also rev iew content in Shan and Chin languages.
Crit ics say, however, t hat t he number is still insufficient to monitor the volume of accounts in the countr y, many i n a patchwork of regiona l languages.
After decades of isolating militar y rule, most people in Myanmar have only came online in the last few years as the country opened up and smartphone usage soared.