Alex Omenye
Days after the 22-member monitoring board recommended suspending Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Facebook account due to content violations, Cambodia declared on Tuesday that the group was not wanted in the country.
The suggestion made by the board was “political in nature,” according to the foreign affairs ministry of Cambodia.
Hun Sen’s Facebook page was deactivated last week as a result of the Oversight Board’s assertion that Facebook erred by failing to take down a video he posted in January that violated the platform’s policies against making violent threats.
The Oversight Board is funded by Meta but functions independently.
“It intends to obstruct the freedom of the press for the citizens of Cambodia,” the ministry said in a statement.
Before his account was suspended last week, Hun Sen, one of the world’s most enduring leaders with nearly four decades in office, said that he would start interacting with his followers on Telegram instead.
The ban comes ahead of a national election on July 23 that critics have said will be a fraud due to government efforts to crush any dissent.
In the video that caused controversy, Hun Sen warned individuals who accused his Cambodian People’s Party of purchasing votes in local elections in 2022 to go to court or risk being beaten by the CPP’s followers.
