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YANGON: Myanmar’s armed soldiers and police are using TikTok to send death threats to protesters against last month’s coup, researchers said, prompting the Chinese video-sharing app to announce that it was removing inciting content. to violence.
Digital rights group Myanmar ICT for Development (MIDO) said it had found more than 800 pro-military videos threatening protesters at a time of increasing bloodshed, with 38 protesters killed on Wednesday alone (March 3) according to The United Nations.
“It’s just the tip of the iceberg,” said MIDO CEO Htaike Htaike Aung, noting that there are “hundreds” of videos of uniformed soldiers and police officers on the app.
A spokesman for the army and the junta did not respond to a request for comment.
READ: Myanmar police dissolve protests again after the bloodiest day since the coup
Video from late February reviewed by Reuters shows a man in a military uniform pointing an assault rifle at the camera and addressing protesters.
“I’m going to patrol the entire city tonight and shoot whoever I see … If you want to become a martyr, I’ll fulfill your wish,” the man said.
Reuters was unable to reach him or the other uniformed men featured in the TikTok videos or to verify that they are in the military.
TikTok is the latest social media platform to suffer from a proliferation of threatening content or hate speech in Myanmar.
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The American tech giant Facebook has now banned all pages linked to the Myanmar military, and has been banned himself.
TikTok said in a statement: “We have clear community guidelines that state that we do not allow content that incites violence or misinformation that causes harm … As regards Myanmar, we have removed and continue to rapidly remove all content that incites violence or spreads misinformation and we aggressively monitor to remove any content that violates our guidelines. “
TikTok policies prohibit the display of weapons unless they are in “safe environments.”
Reuters reviewed more than a dozen videos in which uniformed men, sometimes brandishing weapons, threatened to harm protesters calling for the reversal of the coup and the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
READ: Singapore advises citizens to consider leaving Myanmar as soon as possible
Some videos had tens of thousands of views. Those reviewed by Reuters were removed this week. Some used hashtags related to American celebrities.
Growing rapidly in Myanmar, TikTok saw a sharp increase in downloads after the military banned Facebook last month. It is among the top 20 most downloaded apps in Myanmar, according to industry data.
Facebook, which remains popular in Myanmar despite the ban, has tightened its scrutiny of content since it was accused of helping fuel atrocities against the Rohingya Muslim minority in 2017.
Researchers like Htaike say they believe the military is now trying to increase its presence on other platforms.
