Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the supreme commander of the so-called Myanmar Defense Services, was banned from Facebook on Monday over his role in what UN investigators have described as genocide against the Rohingya in Rakhine State. He is one of the 20 individuals and groups who are no longer allowed on the platform.
“International experts, most recently in a report by the UN Human Rights Council-authorized Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, have found evidence that many of these individuals and organizations committed or enabled serious human rights abuses in the country. And we want to prevent them from using our service to further inflame ethnic and religious tensions,” Facebook announced.
The ban caught the supreme commander off-guard. Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay said yesterday that “the government didn’t seem to know about it in advance.” He also said the government is seeking to learn from Facebook how the deleted accounts can be retrieved.
Shortly after the general’s account was deleted, new page named “Senior General Min Aung Hlaing” appeared on Facebook, it was quickly removed, as well.
Apparently having come to terms with his worn-out welcome at Facebook, the supreme commander has accelerated his use of Twitter and VK — a Russian social networking site.
Some Myanmar netizens seem to have found humor in the woes of Myanmar’s most powerful man, and they have translated this humor into a bunch of sassy memes. Here are a few of them:
(“This guy is is heartbroken.”)
If you see any more memes celebrating the Min Aung Hlaing’s ejection from Facebook, send them to yangon@coconuts.co.
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