TikTok announced that the social media application had banned several accounts “aggressively” in Myanmar.
Myanmar has been rocked by a military coup since February. The government-charged army, as per several reports, has been posting many videos online on the platform. Many of these videos have the military spreading propaganda that is traditionally pro-government. Others also include misinformation to mislead other protesters, as well as soldiers threatening with weapons.
TikTok said that the videos were deleted for curbing misinformation as well as stopping the spread of violence on the social media network.
TikTok’s Statement About The Ban
Earlier in the month, TikTok deleted a couple of videos that spread hate speeches. But later, they said that their move was not as swift. They meant that they couldn’t remove all the violent content and threatening videos from the platform earlier “enough.”
TikTok’s spokesperson gave a statement about their decision. He said that the promotion of “violence,” “hate,” as well, as “misinformation” have no space on the social media giant network. He further said that soon after they “identified” the “situation” in the country, they “stepped up” to eradicate content that violated their laws. He said that they also “added resources” to this mission.
TikTok “aggressively banned” several devices and accounts. They were identified as promoting “content” that was dangerous “at scale.” The spokesperson mentioned their future measures— which will look the same. He added the company would make an “investment” to threats to keep their application, TikTok, a safe space.
Several advocates, as well as activists, have compared the situation of social media usage in violence. In Myanmar, they pointed out, in the early 2010s, Myanmar used Facebook for invoking violence in the country. This is a reference to the Rohingya minority. Earlier this month, Facebook also mentioned that it would, along with Instagram, ban Myanmar’s military from its platforms.
