Facebook Deletes Myanmar Military Page After 2 Protesters Killed

JAKARTA - Social media organizers Facebook removed the main Myanmar military website under a rule prohibiting incitement of violence, a day after two protesters were killed when police opened fire on demonstrators opposing the February 1 coup.

"In line with our global policy, we have removed the Tatmadaw News Information Team Page from Facebook due to repeated violations of our Community Standards prohibiting incitement of violence and coordinating harmful actions," a Facebook representative said in a statement. .

The Myanmar military is known as the Tatmadaw. The 'True News' page will no longer be available on Facebook on Sunday.

A Myanmar military spokesman did not respond to a Reuters phone call seeking comment.

Earlier, two people were killed in Myanmar's second city, Mandalay, Saturday, February 20 when police and soldiers opened fire on protesters opposing the overthrow of elected government Aung San Suu Kyi.

It was the bloodiest day in more than two weeks of demonstrations.

Facebook has in recent years engaged with civil rights activists and democratic political parties in Myanmar and fought the military after coming under strong international criticism for failing to contain an online hate campaign.

In 2018, social media banned current military commander Min Aung Hlaing and 19 other senior officers and organizations, and deleted hundreds of pages and accounts run by members of the military for coordinated inauthentic behavior.

In the run-up to the general election in November 2020, Facebook announced it had removed a network of 70 fake accounts and pages operated by members of the military that had posted positive content about the army or criticism of Suu Kyi and her party.