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Facebook bans Myanmar military after deadly violence following coup

25 February 2021
 Dan Ackermann

Facebook said on Wednesday it would ban the rest of the Myanmar military from its platform.

The big picture: It comes some three weeks after the military overthrew the civilian government in a coup and detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi, causing massive protests to erupt throughout the country. Military leaders have been using internet blackouts to try to maintain power in light of the coup.

Why it matters: Facebook has been long weaponized by the Myanmar military to help spread disinformation disparaging the minority Rohinga Muslim population.

  • The company has been taking action on military groups there for years, after finding nearly ten military-backed coordinated inauthentic behavior campaigns over the past several years.

Details: In a blog post, Facebook said that events since the Feb. 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," Rafael Frankel, Director of Policy, APAC Emerging Countries for Facebook wrote.
  • Facebook said it will also be prohibiting Tatmadaw-linked commercial entities from advertising on the platform. (Tatmadow is the name of the military group.)
  • The bans, which will remain in effect indefinitely, were made in consultation with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

What they're saying: "This action builds on the steps we have taken in recent years to prevent the Tatmadaw from abusing our platform," Facebook said in its post.

  • "Among these are: banning 20 military-linked individuals and organisations in 2018, including Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, for their role in severe human rights violations; and removing at least six Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior networks run by the Tatmadaw from 2018 to 2020."

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.