Facebook removes hundreds more pages linked to the Myanmar military

Facebook is still grappling with its very big problem in Myanmar.

Since the UN determined the spread of fake news on the social network played a rolein the genocide of the Rohingya Muslims living in Myanmar, Facebook has made attempts to deal with the issue. The company has performed three major purges of bad actors on its platform that it believes were contributing to the genocide. Its most recent actionwas announced on Tuesday night.

Facebook removed 425 Facebook Pages, 17 Facebook Groups, 135 Facebook accounts, and 15 Instagram accounts in Myanmar for engaging in what the company calls “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”

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According to the social network, approximately 2.5 million people followed at least one of the Facebook Pages. The Facebook Groups and Instagram accounts were less popular, with approximately 6,400 people belonging to at least one of the Facebook Groups and around 1,300 people following at least one the Instagram accounts.

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The Pages — classified by Facebook as appearing as independent news, entertainment, beauty, and lifestyle Pages — were found to be linked to the Myanmar military. These Pages were also connected to Pages the company previously removed for similar behavior.

According to Facebook, they removed these Pages based on the behavior of those involved as opposed to the content being posted.

“This kind of behavior is not allowed on Facebook under our misrepresentation policy because we don’t want people or organizations creating networks of accounts to mislead others about who they are, or what they’re doing,” Facebook said in its post.

In the early summer, Facebook banned dozens of Facebook Pages in Myanmar. The company also bannedthe Myanmar military commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, marking the first time Facebook banned a state official from its platform.

The UN had previously concluded social media played a major rolein the spread of misinformation about the Rohingya people in Myanmar. While Facebook has taken steps, including this most recent ban, to address the situation in Myanmar, activists believe the social network took too long to act and still has a long way to go. One major lingering concern: Facebook still won’t committo a local Myanmar office.

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