Facebook says it has significantly reduced distribution of all content on pages and profiles run by the Myanmar military, the Tatmadaw, "that have continued to spread misinformation". These accounts will not be recommended to people, it said on Thursday. The rule will apply to Tatmadaw Information Team's Facebook page and to the spokesperson for the Tatmadaw Brigadier-General Zaw Min Tun's Facebook account, among "other military-run accounts". The policy will be applied to "any additional pages" that the military "controls" that "repeatedly" violates the platform's misinformation policies, said Rafael Frankel, Facebook's Director of Policy for APAC Emerging Countries. The platform will also: Reduce distribution of content that "likely" violates its hate speech and incitement policies, as well as content that "explicitly praises or supports the coup" Remove misinformation claiming widespread fraud or foreign interference in Myanmar's November election (which the Myanmar military declared fraudulent) Remove calls to bring weapons to any location across Myanmar Significantly, Facebook has stopped taking content removal requests from Myanmar's government bodies through the normal channels available for other governments. "We have indefinitely suspended the ability for Myanmar government agencies to send content removal requests to Facebook through our normal channels reserved for authorities around the world," it said. On February 1, the Myanmar military overthrew the democratic government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, in a bid to consolidate its power. The military launched the coup after claiming widespread fraud during the November 2020 elections/ Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy received a landslide 80% of…
