Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, a devoted and very active user of Facebook — on which he has posted everything from photos of his grandchildren to threats against his political enemies — says he will no longer upload to the platform and will instead depend on the Telegram app to get his message across.
Key points:
- In a live speech on Facebook, Hun Sen threatened opposition politicians, saying his supporters may “beat you up”
- A decision on his use of the platform is expected today
- In Russia, Telegram is actively used both by government officials and opposition activists to communicate with mass audiences
Telegram is a popular messaging app that also has a blogging tool called “channels”.
The 70-year-old year Hun Sen, who has led Cambodia for 38 years, is listed as having 14 million Facebook followers — a huge number given Cambodia’s population of about 17 million people.
By comparison, the Facebook accounts of Joe Biden and Donald Trump boast 11 million and 34 million followers, respectively, though the United States has about 20 times the population of Cambodia.
Critics have suggested a large number of Hun Sen’s followers are merely “ghost” accounts purchased in bulk from so-called “click farms”, and it was revealed back in 2016 that more than half of his recent “likes” came from outside Cambodia, mostly India and the Philippines.
The long-serving prime minister has repeatedly denied that he purchased likes from fake or ghost accounts.
He once joked that he was the “Facebook Prime Minister”, given his popularity on the platform.
Hun Sen officially launched his Facebook page on September 20, 2015, after his fierce political rival, opposition leader Sam Rainsy, effectively demonstrated how it could be used to mobilise support.
Hun Sen is noted as a canny and sometimes ruthless politician, and has since then managed to drive his rival into exile and neutralise all his challengers, even though Cambodia is a nominally democratic state.
Hun Sen said he was giving up Facebook for Telegram because he believes the latter is more effective for communicating.
In a Telegram post he said it would be easier for him to get his message out when he is travelling in other countries that officially ban Facebook use, such as China, the top ally of his government.
In Russia and some of its neighbouring countries, Telegram is actively used both by government officials and opposition activists for communicating with mass audiences.
Telegram played an important role in coordinating unprecedented anti-government protests in Belarus in 2020, and currently serves as a major source of news about Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Hun Sen has 855,000 followers so far on Telegram, where he appears to have started posting in mid-May.
Could Hun Sen be banned from Facebook ahead of election?
It is possible, however, that Hun Sen’s social media loyalty switch has to do with controversy over remarks he posted earlier this year on Facebook that in theory could see him get at least temporarily banned from the platform very soon.
In January, speaking at a road construction ceremony, he decried opposition politicians who accused his ruling Cambodian People’s Party of stealing votes.
“There are only two options. One is to use legal means and the other is to use a stick,” the prime minister said.
His remarks were spoken on Facebook Live and kept online as a video.
Perhaps because of heightened consciousness about the power of social media to inflame and trigger violence in such countries as India and Myanmar, and because the remarks were made ahead of a general election in Cambodia this July, complaints about his words were lodged with Facebook’s parent company, Meta.
Facebook’s moderators declined to recommend action against Hun Sen, judging that his position as a national leader made his remarks newsworthy and therefore not subject to punishment despite their provocative nature.
However, the case was forwarded in March to Meta’s Oversight Board, a group of independent experts that is empowered to render an overriding judgement that could limit Hun Sen’s Facebook activities.
They are expected to issue a decision on Thursday. The case is being closely watched as an indicator of where Facebook will draw the line in countries with volatile political situations.
Hun Sen has repeated a cycle of clamping down on opposition candidates and independent media in the lead up to elections to effectively sideline potential challengers to his decades-long rule, and his party currently holds all 125 parliamentary seats.
In March, prominent Cambodian opposition figure Kem Sokha was sentenced to 27 years in detention after being found guilty of treason in a case widely condemned as politically-motivated.
In May, Cambodia’s election commission banned the sole credible opposition party from contesting the upcoming election, and Hun Sen also revoked the licence of one of the country’s last independent media outlets in February.
Hun Sen said his Facebook account will remain online but he will no longer actively post to it.
He urged people looking for news from him to check YouTube and his Instagram account as well as Telegram, and said he has ordered his office to establish a TikTok account to allow him to communicate with his country’s youth.
AP/ABC
