Facebook says it is banning all Myanmar military and military-controlled entities from Facebook and Instagram, and ads from military-linked commercial entities
Myanmar military banned from Facebook and Instagram with immediate effect. — Today, we are banning the remaining Myanmar military …
About FacebookRafael Frankel
Context & Ripple Effects
Facebook had already removed Burmese military officials’ accounts and pages in 2018, then moved from account removals to limiting distribution of all military-posted content earlier in February. The new policy completes that escalation by applying entity-level enforcement across Facebook and Instagram and extending it to military-linked commercial advertising.
The decision follows Facebook’s earlier ban on four armed groups in Myanmar, showing a progression from removing particular actors and content to barring the military’s broader platform presence.
First-order effects
Myanmar’s military and military-controlled entities lose access to Facebook and Instagram, while military-linked commercial entities lose the ability to buy ads on both services.
Facebook and Instagram must enforce the policy against affiliated entities and commercial advertisers, rather than only reducing the reach of military-posted content.
Second-order effects
The earlier distribution limits become an insufficient moderation measure for Myanmar’s military presence; account access and advertising eligibility now become the relevant enforcement points.
Military-linked businesses lose a paid route to audiences on Facebook and Instagram, joining the military’s loss of organic distribution and representation on the platforms.
Third-order effects
The shift points toward conflict-related platform enforcement centered on organizational affiliation, not only individual accounts, posts, or reach reductions.
If sustained, the approach makes commercial relationships part of the moderation perimeter when platforms act against state or armed actors.
The trend: Major social platforms are moving from content-level restrictions toward entity-wide deplatforming and advertising bans for armed and state-linked actors.
many of the company's detractors feel like this is too little, too late, and things are extremely bad for Facebook in Myanmar right now given the fact that the Myanmar has long coopted FB across the country with deep reach for quite some time
Banning violent leaders is not just about Trump. Here's Facebook on its ban on the Myanmar military. I've followed their horrors for 30 years, since my earliest activism, and FB's broad analysis is the right way to treat the problem. Their Oversight Board must do same re: Trump. …
“Events since the February 1 coup, including deadly violence, have precipitated a need for this ban. We believe the risks of allowing the Tatmadaw on Facebook and Instagram are too great,” says Facebook. https://twitter.com/...
This should have happened years ago. Facebook bans Myanmar's military, saying: “We believe the risks of allowing the Tatmadaw on Facebook and Instagram are too great” #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar #facebook https://about.fb.com/...
“So far, the Tatmadaw, as the Myanmar military is known, has depended on cruder forms of control to restrict the flow of information. But the army seems serious about setting up a digital fence to more aggressively filter what people see and do online.” https://www.nytimes.com/..…