Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday announced that he could block access to Facebook in the country, after the company said it would remove a video in which he threatened to beat up political opponents.
The warning came ahead of a July 23 election that has been widely dubbed a sham after authorities denied registration to the chief challenger to Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party.
Facebook on Thursday said it would remove one of Hun Sen’s videos in line with a ruling by the Oversight Board for Meta, Facebook’s parent company, which recommended his account be suspended.
Photo: AFP
Tech experts characterized the move as a “turning point.”
The ruling said his speech contained “unequivocal statements of intent to commit violence” against opposition politicians.
Long a prolific Facebook user, Hun Sen on Thursday night said he had stopped using the platform and appeared to have deleted his account.
Speaking to garment workers in Pursat Province yesterday, Hun Sen said that he could block Facebook “for a short period or forever” in Cambodia at any time to prevent exiled opposition politicians from communicating with the public.
“Don’t be arrogant, you guys are staying overseas, you are using Facebook for communications, we could block Facebook,” he said, appearing to address exiled opponents.
He urged Cambodians to download other social media platforms, including Telegram, TikTok, Line, Viber and Meta-owned WhatsApp which are more difficult to police content.
Hun Sen accused Facebook of turning a blind eye to “insulting” remarks he said rivals had made against his wife and eldest son, Hun Manet, who is widely seen as being groomed to take over the country’s leadership.
On Thursday, Human Rights Watch said the saga was a “face-off between big tech and a dictator over human rights issues” that was “long overdue.”
RMIT University Centre for Cyber Security Research professor Matthew Warren said that Meta was facing increasing pressure to hold politicians to account for their online misbehaviour.
“I do see it as a turning point,” he said.
“It’s good Facebook is doing this, but it doesn’t stop the problem ... because there is now a variety of platforms that politicians can use,” he said.
Hun Sen now uses the Telegram app to relay his political messages to supporters, and TikTok to engage with youth.
Meta’s decision was better late than never, Warren said.
“What they are doing is showing that Meta can police content,” he said.
“The video is from January, which is six months ago, so it’s taken Meta a long time to deal with this situation. They haven’t been that agile,” he said.
The Cambodian government put plans for a national Internet gateway on hold last year, after an international backlash.
Hun Sen’s threat to block Facebook in Cambodia could revive the gateway plan, which would funnel all Web traffic through a state-controlled entry point, Warren said.
For many Cambodians, Facebook is considered the whole Internet.
“If Facebook is blocked, ties with the West will worsen. Bad officials will be happy,” a Facebook user wrote.
Others supported the move.
“If Facebook is blocked, people will return to reading books. There won’t be headaches about immoral things. More than 10 years ago, we survived without Facebook. Close it down,” a Facebook user said.
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