6/9/22, 1:06 PM Is Facebook’s bias a source of concern for Myanmar’s 2020 election? | Eleven Media Group Co., Ltd On June 6, 2018, Facebook representatives met with representatives from the Ministry of Information held discussions regarding content that are harmful to children, hate speech, and social media education efforts that would be done in coordination with Facebook. Not too long after the meeting with the Ministry of Information, many Facebook accounts that regularly criticize the government, including the account of Facebook Blue Mark holder ex-MP U Hla Swe, were removed. During that period, many users speculated that Facebook had acted at the urging of he information ministry. It was later denied by the ministry on June 8, 2018. At the media meet on June 8 at the Sedona in Yangon, Facebook had vouched that even though they had cast out users that were critical of the government, everything was done with international standards. Facebook’s Policy Director Mia Garlick said on that day that Facebook values equality and that for its 18 million users, every report gets reviewed and punished if found to be in breach of community standards. Until now, there have been no clarifications and detailed answers to what it discussed with the government except the promise that Facebook will look into the motives behind the spread of hate speech. Fairness required The 2020 general election is only months away. As it stands, Facebook will continue to play a critical role because of the fact that the UEC has said that fake and other harmful news on Facebook will be removed at its request. UEC member U Than Htay had confirmed that they will monitor and report false news to Facebook. UEC member U Myint Naing also confirmed this agreement between the UEC and Facebook. Facebook bears, to a varying amount, partial responsibility for the election to be free and fair because many expect manipulations and foul play through the media of Facebook. Many believe that the likelihood of restricting the reach of news media organizations and censoring posts of news organizations is high. It has so far been proven that there are many consistency errors with Facebook’s community standards such as the quashing of differing opinions, amongst other breaches of democratic rights. Many election observers express worry as there are no guarantees that Facebook will be used to oppress opposition parties and other dissenters to the current ruling party. USDP’s spokesperson U Thein Tun Oo believes it will create a massive gap between the parties. Dr Yan Myo Thein believes Facebook must be fair and truly adherent to their own Community Standards and that the removal of so-called fake news must not hurt the public’s rights to freedom of speech. Dr Yan Myo Thein says, “Honestly, Facebook needs to freely exercise actions based on their community standards and those decisions must not be partial toward those in power. Facebook must remove fake and harmful news as well as hate speech but must also observe freedom of speech.” If Facebook was to repeat the same thing again as it did with hate speech, the 2020 election will not be free and fair. One other thing we must keep in mind is the risk posed on the freedom of the press by utilizing Facebook. For now, we can only wait and observe whether Facebook will do its best to be unbiased. We head toward the 2020 election in the hope that the elections will be free and fair. “People will believe in Facebook’s and NLD’s integrity more. Of course, if they were to misbehave, the trust from the public will continue to decline,” said ex-MP Ye Tun (Thibaw). Related Articles https://elevenmyanmar.com/news/is-facebooks-bias-a-source-of-concern-for-myanmars-2020-election-0 5/10