Facebook bans Myanmar Army Chief Min Aung Hlaing, 19 others over rights abuses

Facebook on Monday said it had banned 20 Myanmarese individual and organisations, including Myanmar’s Army Chief Min Aung Hlaing and the military’s Myawady television network, hours after a United Nations report called Myanmar’s military leaders, including the army chief, to be investigated and prosecuted for genocide over a crackdown on Rohingya Muslims.

“We are banning 20 individuals and organisations from Facebook in Myanmar—including Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and the military’s Myawady television network,” the social media giant said in a statement on its site, adding that it wanted to prevent them from using the service to “further inflame ethnic and religious tensions”.

Also Read | 'One suspect dead' after Florida mass shooting: Police

“International experts, most recently in a report by the UN Human Rights Council-authorised Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, have found evidence that many of these individuals and organisations committed or enabled serious human rights abuses in the country. And we want to prevent them from using our service to further inflame ethnic and religious tensions,” Facebook said.

Also Read | Australia still lures Indians, despite tighter visa rules

“We’re removing a total of 18 Facebook accounts, one Instagram account and 52 Facebook Pages, followed by almost 12 million people. We are preserving data on the accounts and Pages we have removed,” Facebook said and added that it would continue to work to prevent the misuse of Facebook in Myanmar.