Editor’s note: This article first appeared in Eleven Media. It has been edited for length and clarity and reprinted here with the permission of the author, Nay Htun Naing.
On September 12, the Ministry of Information sent a letter to the Myanmar Motion Picture Organization summoning filmmaker Mike Tee.
The complaint had to do with a photoshopped image insulting President Thein Sein that had spread on Facebook.
The account belonged to “Mike Tee” but the real Mike Tee swears he didn’t create it and says someone else did for malicious purposes.
Hundreds of accounts of Facebook users who have opposed dictatorship and promoted democracy have been attacked over the last few months. People have been forced to change their profile names. In some cases their accounts were breached and names were changed without their knowledge. In others the trolls create an account under the same name to stir confusion.
They roam freely without anyone to handle them, which is why their voices only get louder.
What is the government doing about these cases? Who is controlling the trolls on Facebook in Myanmar?
Social media spark
These accounts materialized in 2012 as accounts with incorrect profile pictures and user information.
They have misled people through Facebook, but no one is there to take action against them or remove them from Facebook.
They continue assailing the media and politicians, spreading religious hate speeches and throwing sucker punches in political issues for religious reasons.
Facebook is responsible for three reasons.
First of all, Facebook already has Myanmar staff and has not removed the accounts that infringe on its community standards.
Secondly, many have used its sponsorship tool to promote their pages and accounts. Sponsorship is a program in which the client pays Facebook in return for a better post reach.
In Myanmar, most media outlets use sponorship as do senior government and military officials.
So it stands to reason that propagandists stirring up hatred online use the program too.
The third point is that Facebook has close ties with local authorities. Normally, it is not strange that Facebook and the government have close cooperation. One Facebook rule has it that data demanded by governments concerned will be revealed if it is in conformity with the required terms and conditions.
In this context, the government could remove Facebook accounts of those propagandists with the help of Facebook. But they have taken no action so far.
Myanmar is an eye-catching market for Facebook. There will be great loses if Myanmar bans the social network. Reports have spread among Internet users that Facebook is removing posts and images that are highly critical of the government.
Meanwhile, fabricated news and hate speeches go viral online. It is questionable why Facebook has not removed the accounts of, for instance, Myanmar Express, People’s Power and Dr. Seik Phwar.
Is this the attitude of Facebook itself or Myanmar employees at Facebook?
The consequences
Myanmar is on the brink of disaster as authorities allow those Facebook accounts to spread propaganda without taking any action.
The mobile phone usage in the country is increasing and the number of mobile users is going to reach 30 million. Regionally Myanmar has the highest rate of Facebook users via mobile phones.
No one has tried to take action against the hell hounds on Facebook.
Facebook has not removed the aforementioned inflammatory accounts. The government has not moved either to ask Facebook to remove them. The hell hounds are still at large.
The Facebook safety rules coming from the workshop between government and Facebook officials are agreeable without objection. But everyone must follow the rules and action must be taken against anyone who breaks them.
Photo / Screenshot of Facebook’s homepage
