Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has been accused of inciting violence against political opponents on Facebook, and the social media platform’s monitoring committee has recommended that his Facebook and Instagram accounts be suspended immediately for six months.
Metaplatforms’ panel of experts, which makes binding content moderation decisions for the company’s Facebook and Instagram platforms, said Thursday that Facebook content moderators threatened Hun Sen’s livestreamed speech to political opponents. announced that they had made the mistake of allowing the continued existence of the on his Facebook page.
The board said the “newsworthiness” of Hun Sen’s threatening comments was not a legitimate reason to allow the speech to continue on Facebook, and that the platform would allow the speech on July 23. It added that the move had amplified Hun Sen’s incitement to violence ahead of national elections. To stay online.
“Mr. Hun Sen is using social media to amplify his threats against his opponents, disseminate them more widely, and cause more damage than he could have done without access to Meta’s platform,” the board said on page 26. report, condemning the actions of Cambodian leaders. “Major violation.”
“Mr Hun Sen’s use of his platform to incite violence against his political opponents calls for immediate action, given his record, the government’s human rights violations, and the upcoming elections. Yes,” the board added.
According to Reuters, Mehta agreed to delete the video of the original live-streamed speech. The social media company now has 60 days to accept the board’s recommendation and decide whether to suspend Mr Hun Sen’s Facebook and Instagram accounts.
In a controversial speech livestreamed in January, Prime Minister Hun Sen slammed those he said accused the ruling Cambodian People’s Party of stealing votes in last year’s local elections. Mr Hun Sen’s critics said they had no choice but to go to court or be beaten with a “stick”.
“Either you face a lawsuit in court or I will hold a rally.” [CPP] They bring people to the demonstrations and beat them up,” Hun Sen said.
Mehta said the video of his speech has been viewed about 600,000 times.
If the recommended suspension is carried out, Hun Sen would become one of the few world leaders to be sanctioned by a social media giant for inciting violence on its platform. Most notably, former US President Donald Trump received a two-year ban from Facebook and Instagram in 2021 for praising the actions of the Capitol rioters.
Facebook remains hugely popular in Southeast Asia and Cambodia, and Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia with an iron grip for 38 years, has been an avid user of social media to spread his authoritarian political messages.
Hun Sen has around 14 million followers on Facebook, but questions have been raised about the origins of his vast online audience.
The Cambodian leader also pre-empted a possible suspension by posting on his Telegram channel Wednesday night that he would temporarily stop using Facebook and instead use Telegram, where he has about 860,000 followers. It seems so. He also said he would create a TikTok account to connect with young people. Pro-government media quickly shared his QR code for the account.
Hun Sen did not mention the investigation into the Meta Committee’s account of incitement to violence.
Phil Robertson, deputy director for Asia at Human Rights Watch, told Al Jazeera that the Mehta board’s recommendations were “long overdue” and that the ruling against Hun Sen was “a sign that Meta is a regional authoritarian leader.” “This is the kind of message that should be sent to people,” he said.
“Clear incitement to cause this type of physical harm is where meth should draw the line,” Robertson said.
“The real problem in the region is that there is no institution or organization to hold someone like Mr. Hun Sen accountable for his words and actions. “It is entirely appropriate to make clear that we are a global platform with international standards that are not dependent on dictators,” Hun Sen said.
Aim Shinpeng, a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney who specializes in digital politics in Southeast Asia, said Mr Mehta had so far avoided moderating comments from political leaders in the region.
“I don’t know why Hun Sen was targeted,” Shinpeng told Al Jazeera, noting that former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte used Facebook in a similar way to the Cambodian leader. It added that no sanctions were imposed.
“In my opinion, this is something that the meta has to approach carefully.” [with] “We want to avoid being seen as ‘bullying’ poor countries, but at the same time we want to show strong support for human rights,” Shinpen said.