Cambodia’s anti-Facebook vendetta hits new highs with ban, blacklisting of oversight board members

The blacklisting is the latest twist in a row that has seen Cambodia’s long-time PM Hun Sen, once a prolific Facebook user, switch to rival Telegram

It comes after Meta’s Oversight Board called for Hun Sen’s Facebook and Instagram accounts to be suspended over a video threatening his opponents

Reading Time:2 minutes

A woman looks at Hun Sen’s Facebook account, which has since been deactivated, on her smart phone in Phnom Penh. Cambodia’s foreign ministry has accused Facebook parent Meta’s oversight board of interfering in the country’s internal affairs. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 12:02pm, 5 Jul 2023

Cambodia has blacklisted 22 people on the Oversight Board for Facebook’s parent company Meta after they recommended Prime Minister Hun Sen’s account be suspended over a video in which he threatened to beat up his rivals.

The blacklisting is the latest twist in a row that has seen the long-time Cambodian leader, once a prolific Facebook user, stop using the platform and apparently deactivate his account.

It also comes weeks before a July 23 election widely dubbed a sham after authorities denied registration to the chief challenger to Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party.

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen was a devoted and active user of Facebook, but says he will no longer upload to the platform and instead depend on the Telegram app for getting his message across. Photo: AP

Hun Sen, who has now been in power for more than three decades, backed down from threats to cut off access to Facebook in Cambodia but declared the company’s representatives would no longer be welcome in the country.

Meta’s Oversight Board, the decisions from which are binding, recommended on Thursday that his Facebook and Instagram accounts be suspended for six months due to the January video.

In the clip, he told opponents they would face legal action or a beating with sticks if they accused his party of vote theft in July’s polls.

Meta said it would remove the video in line with the Board’s ruling.