Facebook has shut down all remaining accounts linked to the Burmese military, due to the junta’s use of “deadly violence” against pro-democracy protesters, the platform said in a statement Thursday.
This decision, which takes effect immediately, applies to the military and entities controlled by the armed forces on Facebook and Instagram, and also prohibits all advertising.
“The events since the February 1 coup, including deadly violence, have precipitated the need for this ban,” Facebook said in its statement.
“We think the risks of authorizing Tatmadaw (the Burmese army, editor’s note) on Facebook and Instagram are too great”.
Over the past three weeks, the generals have continued to step up the use of force to weaken the pro-democracy mobilization in Burma, where thousands of people have challenged them by taking to the streets daily.
The death toll since the coup rose to five on Wednesday, after the death of a 20-year-old man who succumbed to his injuries in Mandalay (center).
The military used Facebook extensively to spread its accusations of voter fraud in the November election won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s party.
In recent years, the social media giant has banned hundreds of military-related pages, but has remained widely criticized for being ineffective in tackling malicious posts in the country.
Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing and other senior officials were kicked out of the platform in 2018, a year after an army crackdown forced an estimated 750,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority to flee to neighboring Bangladesh.
Thursday’s announcement follows Facebook’s decision last weekend to ban True News, the main page run by the regime’s news service.