Cambodia’s long-serving, tough-talking leader, Hun Sen, on Friday said he is considering banning Facebook in his country. It largely because he is fed up with the abuse he receives on it from his political enemies abroad.
Pulling the plug on Facebook for millions of Cambodian users would be the last stage in a lightning estrangement this past week between the 70-year-old prime minister and the social media platform.
He had been an enthusiastic user, posting family snapshots alongside dire warnings to his foes. And recently livestreaming his many, sometimes hours-long speeches
On Wednesday, he suddenly announced he will no longer upload to Facebook and will instead use Telegram to get his message across.
Telegram is a popular messaging app that also has a blogging tool called “channels.”
Hun Sen said he was making the switch because Telegram is more effective and makes it easier to communicate.
When he is traveling to countries that ban Facebook uses. Such as China, his government’s top international ally.
He said that although he would stop posting new material. He would keep his Facebook page.
Hun Sen Facebook
His announcement came just a day before a quasi-independent review board on Thursday recommended that Hun Sen’s Facebook and Instagram accounts be suspended for six months for using language.
It judged could incite violence in a video of a January speech in which he decried opposition politicians who accused his ruling party of stealing votes
The Oversight Board, established three years ago by Meta, Facebook’s parent company. As issued its nonbinding recommendation in a 26-page report.
Separately, it overturned a ruling by Facebook’s moderators to allow the video. Originally broadcast live, to stay online.
The ruling to remove the video is binding on Facebook.
He said in a live video that he would order a temporary. Or even a permanent ban if his foes kept attacking him on Facebook.
But he is reluctant to do so because such a move would affect all Cambodian Facebook users, not just his 14 million followers.
He also complained that Facebook had acted unfairly, as it has never taken punitive action against his opponents despite them sometimes using extreme language to attack him.