"Cambodia PM threatens Facebook ban after posts ruled violent", 30 June 2023

Cambodia's leader Hun Sen has quit Facebook and threatened to block it in his country after the platform's oversight board recommended he be suspended for six months.

Hun Sen had called for violence against his … opponents in a video in January which was viewed 600,000 times…

Hun Sen was a prolific Facebook user and his page had 14 million followers.

After he left the platform …, he also threatened to block Facebook in the country…

Hun Sen urged Cambodians to migrate to other social media platforms, including Telegram and TikTok, which he has moved to.

Before he quit Facebook, Hun Sen had built up a following of about 800,000 users on Telegram which is a commonly used channel …

Facebook parent Meta's Oversight Board … recommended his suspension for six months over an earlier video, posted in January. It overturned an earlier decision by Facebook to keep the video live, citing "newsworthiness".

"Given the severity of the violation, Hun Sen's history of committing human rights violations and intimidating … opponents, as well as his strategic use of social media to amplify such threats, the Board calls on Meta to immediately suspend Hun Sen's Facebook page and Instagram account for six months," the Board said in a statement…

Soon after the Oversight Board's decision was announced, Hun Sen said he had asked an assistant to delete his Facebook account…

Human Rights Watch (HRW) described Hun Sen's departure from the world's largest social media platform as an overdue "face-off between Big Tech and a dictator over human rights issues"…