The defiant three-finger salute has become popular on Myanmar social media
Credit: AFP
Myanmar’s military regime has moved to shut down Facebook, blocking one of the main social media channels being used by the Southeast Asian nation’s citizens to express opposition to a coup against the democratically-elected government this week.
Internet providers including state-owned telecom MPT began restricting access to Facebook Inc-owned services on Thursday, after a letter posted online by the Ministry of Communications and Information said the decision had been taken for the sake of “stability.” The ban is set to last until February 7.
Network monitoring group NetBlocks confirmed state-owned telecom MPT, which says it has 23 million users, had blocked Facebook as well as its Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp services. Norway’s Telenor Asa said it had blocked Facebook to comply with the directive, reported Reuters.
Myanmar’s army seized power on Monday, cutting short a transition to democracy in a takeover that has drawn condemnation from the international community and sparked a civil disobedience movement across the country, spearheaded by the medical profession.
A child hits a plate with a pair of scissors after calls for protest against the coup went out on social media
Credit: Sai Aung Main/AFP
Widespread public anger over the military’s actions has so far not translated into street protests but resistance has spread across social media, especially on Facebook, which is used by roughly half of Myanmar’s 53 million population and for many is synonymous with the internet.
Many of the site’s users have changed their profile pictures to Aung San Suu Kyi, the popular civilian leader who was arrested during the coup, or to the red colour of her National League for Democracy party, which won 83% of votes in a November election.
Since Monday, symbols of defiance have gone viral on social media, including striking medics wearing red ribbons and making a three-fingered salute that was popularised by the Hollywood movie The Hunger Games and which has become an emblem of Thailand’s pro-democracy movement.
The military has warned against the posting of what it said were rumours on social media that could incite rioting and cause instability.
Myanmar activists stage a protest in Israel outside the Myanmar embassy
Credit: Jack Guez/AFP
Access to other social media channels including Twitter and Signal remains open.
Facebook, which plays a huge part in the country’s official and private discourse, has been embroiled in controversy in the recent past.
In 2018, UN human rights experts investigating a possible genocide against Myanmar’s Rohingya minority accused Facebook of playing a role in spreading hate speech.
The company has said it was too slow to act in preventing misinformation and hate in the country, and this week said it was treating the situation in Myanmar as an emergency and taking temporary measures to protect against harm such as removing content that praises or supports the coup.
International outrage over the military coup is continuing to build.
On Wednesday, Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, said he would do everything in his power to pressure Myanmar and "make sure that this coup fails."
In an interview with the Washington Post he said that "after elections that I believe took place normally and after a large period of transition, it’s absolutely unacceptable to reverse the results of the elections and the will of the people."
The UN chief also lamented the failure so far of the 15-member UN Security Council to issue a joint statement over the coup after the UK initiated an emergency meeting on Tuesday.
According to a draft text obtained by AFP, the Security Council would express its deep concern over and condemn the coup, and would demand the military "immediately release those unlawfully detained."
The Council would also demand that the one-year state of emergency be repealed.
However, negotiations are continuing after Russia and China, a key trading partner to Myanmar, put the brakes on the statement’s adoption.
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