Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has rejected the recommendation from its Oversight Board to suspend former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Facebook account for allegedly inciting violence.
In a video posted in January, Hun Sen appeared to threaten his political adversaries with violence, which was seen by many as a violation of Facebook’s community guidelines. Nevertheless, Meta decided not to suspend his account.
Upon reviewing the matter, Meta released a statement explaining its decision: “Meaningful scrutiny was given to Hun Sen’s Facebook Page and Instagram account. We found that suspending these accounts, outside of our usual enforcement framework, would not align with our policies, especially, our protocol on restricting accounts of public figures during civil unrest.”
Moreover, Meta removed the content that was the core subject of this case. The company stated that they applied appropriate account-level penalties aligned with their policies. So, currently, under these policies, there is no basis to suspend Hun Sen’s account.
Interestingly, Hun Sen quit Facebook after threats of an account suspension were made by the board. He also proposed a nationwide Facebook ban. Meta argued, however, that the suspension of Hun Sen’s account was not appropriate according to the protocol on restricting public figures’ accounts during periods of civil unrest.
As per Meta, the situation in Cambodia did not reach the entrance criteria for crisis designation under the Crisis Policy Protocol. The company said it made the decision following the public figure speech rules which it adopted after the suspension of former US President Donald Trump’s account.
This controversial video by the ex-Prime Minister came as the national elections in Cambodia were approaching toward the end of July. The results on August 5, announced by the National Election Committee (NEC), saw almost half a million votes invalidated. In the end, Sen’s ruling party, the Cambodian People’s Party, claimed a landslide victory.
Prior to the elections, various opposition leaders were barred from contesting elections, and this led to campaigns urging voters to invalidate their vote and declare the election null and void as a form of protest against the disqualification of the opposition Candlelight Party.
The decision by Meta not to suspend Hun Sen’s account despite the Oversight Board’s recommendation may have significant implications for future decisions regarding the enforcement of community standards, especially concerning public figures. For more information, visit JURIST – News.