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Facebook cracks down on more fake accounts tied to Myanmar

It's the fourth time Facebook has removed Myanmar accounts for "coordinated inauthentic behavior."

Queenie Wong Former Senior Writer
Queenie Wong was a senior writer for CNET News, focusing on social media companies including Facebook's parent company Meta, Twitter and TikTok. Before joining CNET, she worked for The Mercury News in San Jose and the Statesman Journal in Salem, Oregon. A native of Southern California, she took her first journalism class in middle school.
Expertise I've been writing about social media since 2015 but have previously covered politics, crime and education. I also have a degree in studio art. Credentials
  • 2022 Eddie award for consumer analysis
Queenie Wong
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Facebook is cracking down on bogus accounts in Myanmar. 

Graphic by Pixabay/Illustration by CNET

Facebook's fight against sham accounts in Myanmar isn't over. 

The social network said it pulled down more than 200 accounts, groups and pages from Myanmar for misleading users about their identity and purpose. Facebook has been subject to criticism that it didn't do enough to combat hate speech that fueled a genocide in Myanmar against the Rohingya, a mainly Muslim group.

It's the fourth network of fake accounts in Myanmar that Facebook identified this year. The social media giant said it linked some of these accounts to people associated with the Myanmar military. Some of the Facebook pages that the social network pulled down included the Myanmar Media Watch, Myanmar Muslim News and the Ethnic Regional News. The accounts posted about national and local topics, from crime and ethnic relations to entertainment and the military. 

"We are making progress rooting out this abuse, but as we've said before, it's an ongoing challenge," said Facebook Head of Cybersecurity Policy Nathaniel Gleicher in a Wednesday blog post.  

Overall, the company removed 89 Facebook accounts, 107 Facebook Pages, 15 Facebook Groups and five Instagram accounts from Myanmar.

The Myanmar Embassy in Washington DC didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.