Facebook banned four ethnic armed Myanmar-based groups from its site this week, in its latest effort to reckon with its role in the violence in that nation. But the tech giant’s decision is drawing criticism from local civil society and human rights groups who warn that the move appears ill-considered and inconsistent with international law.
On Tuesday, Facebook announced in a blogpost that it had designated four separatist groups – the Arakan Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Kachin Independence Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army – as “dangerous organizations”. That designation, which Facebook applies to “organizations or individuals that proclaim a violent mission or are engaged in violence” – ie terrorist groups and criminal cartels – brings with it not just a ban on the group itself, but a ban on “all related praise, support and representation” of the groups, according to the company’s rules.
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