Hate-spewing Myanmar monk Wirathu says he has been barred from Facebook
Monk’s tirades, which have gained him hundreds of thousands of followers online, have been blamed for stoking deadly sectarian violence
A Myanmar monk once dubbed the “Buddhist Bin Laden” for his extremist diatribes says he has been banned from using Facebook, as the site ramps up efforts to clamp down on hate speech.
For years firebrand preacher Wirathu has used the social network as a platform to rail against the country’s embattled Muslims, comparing them to dogs and accusing them of raping and killing Buddhists.
His tirades, which have gained him hundreds of thousands of followers online, have been blamed for stoking deadly sectarian violence including riots in 2013 outside Mandalay which killed dozens of people.
But in his latest video, posted on Friday, the monk said he had been banned from using the site for 30 days for repeatedly posting content not allowed by Facebook’s monitors.
“I am not sure (if I can keep using my account) as Facebook’s team is in the hands of Muslims,” he said in the video, put up from a different account.
“Facebook is occupied by the Muslims.”