Cambodia: Hun Sen quits Facebook on eve of poll campaign

Cambodia’s leader Hun Sen has quit Facebook after its oversight board recommended he be suspended from the platform for six months.

Hun Sen had called for violence against his political opponents in a video he posted to his now deleted page.

His move came days before he launches a re-election campaign to extend his 38-year-long rule.

Hun Sen is a prolific Facebook user and his page had 14 million followers. He has now moved to Telegram and TikTok.

However, critics say his massive social media following was due in part to bots or fake accounts.

Facebook parent Meta’s Oversight Board on Thursday recommended his suspension for six months over a video posted in January. It overturned an earlier decision by Facebook to keep the video live.

In the video, Hun Sen said opposition politicians could face legal action or be beaten up with sticks if they accused his party of vote theft in the upcoming election, due to be held in July.

Soon after the decision was announced, Hun Sen Hun Sen said that he had asked an assistant to delete his Facebook account.

Hun Sen, whose decades-long rule has been dogged with allegations of human rights abuses, has been accused of removing all opposition to his re-election ahead of the July vote.

In May, Cambodia’s electoral body disqualified his sole credible challenger, the Candlelight Party, for lack of appropriate paperwork.

In March, opposition leader Kem Sokha was sentenced to 27 years under house arrest for treason, a charge that he denies.