Facebook censoring reports of ethnic cleansing in Myanmar: report

Activists in Myanmar say Facebook has been removing their posts documenting ethnic cleansing of Rohingya people and censoring their accounts, according to The Daily Beast.

Rohingya activists tell the publication that their accounts are frequently suspended or taken down as they post videos and photos showing the country’s military persecuting them.

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A Facebook spokesperson told The Hill that the social media company is currently reviewing its policies in relation to the ongoing tragedy in the country while trying to strike a “balance between enabling expression while providing a safe and respectful experience.”

“Anyone can report content to us if they think it violates our standards,” the spokesperson said. “It doesn’t matter how many times a piece of content is reported, it will be treated the same. In response to the situation in Myanmar, we are carefully reviewing content against our Community Standards.”

The Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority group in Myanmar, are suffering through what a United Nations official called “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing” at the hands of the military.

Rohingya people have fled the country by the hundreds of thousands as the military has set fire to their villages and conducted mass killings and gang rapes.

Facebook has fielded criticism over the past year for its treatment of certain types of content on its platform. The company’s policies became the object of international controversy when it censored Aftenposten, a Norwegian publication, after it published an iconic picture taken during the Vietnam War.

More recently, Facebook has come under fire for Russian political ad buys during the 2016 election campaign on its site. It also faced criticism after ProPublica reported that it was allowing advertisers to target anti-Semitic individuals.