Meta rejects recommendation to suspend former Cambodian prime minister

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, rejected a recommendation from its Oversight Board to suspend the account of former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, according to a decision announced Tuesday. 

Meta said it would not be suspending Hun Sen’s Facebook or Instagram page after determining that doing so would “not be consistent with our policies, including our protocol on restricting accounts of public figures during civil unrest.” 

Hun Sen, who handed power to his son Hun Manet after July’s national election, had preemptively removed his Facebook page after the Oversight Board recommendation in June, and banished Facebook representatives from operating in the country.

However, he returned to the platform three weeks later, after briefly using Telegram as his main tool of public communication. His Cambodian People’s Party won a large majority in the National Assembly after the main opposition party was barred from competing.

The Oversight Board recommended Meta suspend the account as part of its decision to overturn the company’s decision to leave up a video posted by Hun Sen. The board said the video included violent threats from the then-prime minister toward his political opponents, and given the “severity of the violation” recommended the suspension. 

Unlike the decision on the content, which is binding, other recommendations, such as the suspension of the account, are nonbinding, leaving the final decision up to Meta.

In a post on Facebook, the Cambodian Ministry of Post and Telecommunications cheered the decision.

“Please accept and congratulate Meta Platforms Inc. for the fair judgement,” the government said, according to an English translation on Facebook, adding that the Oversight Board had issued “bad recommendations” that interfered with Cambodia’s internal affairs.

The Oversight Board is run independently from Meta and is made up by a panel of global academics, experts and civic leaders. It is funded by an independent trust provided by Meta.

A spokesperson for the Oversight Board said it “stands by its original decision and urges Meta to do everything in its power to deter public figures who exploit its platforms to incite violence.”

“Elections are a crucial part of democracy and social media companies must ensure their platforms are not misused in ways which threaten to undermine them,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

The decision over Hun Sen’s account is the latest battle Meta has faced on how to handle content posted by a political leader. 

In the U.S., Meta made the decision to suspend former President Trump’s account after content he posted around the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. Meta lifted the two-year ban on Trump’s accounts in January, allowing the former president back on to Meta’s platforms ahead of his 2024 presidential bid.