The biggest social media platform in the world Facebook has started a crackdown on the anti-Rohingya accounts which are active on its platform. On 27th August Facebook said that it was banning Myanmar’s powerful military chief Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing and 19 other organizations and individuals who were according to Facebook spreading hatred and misinformation. This type of news is surprising from the social media platform which claims to be the leading online space for free speech in the world. While Facebook is yet to initiate a crackdown on the Islamic state supporting individuals and organizations it seems like this is a selective crackdown intended to flush out the conservative voices from the platform. It is true that the Rohingya crisis is a major problem for the world now and the Myanmar government has done a brutal counterinsurgency to get rid of the extremist elements amongst the Rohingyas. Nobody can however challenge that there were thousands of active radical extremist Muslims present in the Rohingya faction which had to flee Myanmar, banning the accounts of the most powerful military chief of Myanmar is a negative move to say the least.
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According to reports published by the Amnesty International in 2018 the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army had been involved in massacre of villages occupied by Hindus and Buddhists in the Arakan province. Men were mercilessly killed while women were raped and taken captive by the ARSA and were given an option to either convert to Islam and marry the ARSA terrorists or face death. The allegations of extremism and massacre levied on the Rohingya population were backed by hard facts from the accounts of the survivors of the wrath of ARSA. The stories of the survivors need to be accounted if we want to understand the reasons behind why the Myanmar military had to fight against the Rohingyas.
The left leaning mindset of the workforce behind social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter is known to all, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had quite recently admitted that his company was left-biased owing to the leanings of his employees. Shadow banning of the accounts on Twitter and Facebook has selectively been done in order to restrict the right leaning and conservative voices on their platform. The interview given by the Twitter CEO was an eye opener in this regard and something along those lines would also come from Facebook in the future considering its actions.
The Army chief of Myanmar enjoyed a sizeable following on the social media platform, Facebook choosing to ban his account might be the right step in curtailing hate speeches but something needs to be done regarding hate speeches from the other community too. Members of the Rohingya community have indulged in many terror related activities and have also entered India without permission and without completing the formalities. Their activities too should be monitored and curtailed at the earliest if Facebook wants to appear as an unbiased social media platform in the world today. Hate speeches emanating from either side should be silenced with equal fervour by Facebook if it wants to be known as a platform which provides the opportunity to speak freely and does not back hate speeches from a specific community.