20-7-2023 (PHNOM PENH) Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Facebook page has been reactivated just days before the country’s one-sided national election, according to his assistant. Despite the reactivation, the prime minister himself will not be using the social media platform.
This development is part of an ongoing feud that led the prolific user to quit Cambodia’s most popular social media site, deactivate his account, and even threaten to ban the platform altogether. Furthermore, he blacklisted over 20 members of the Oversight Board for Meta, Facebook’s parent company, after they recommended suspending his account due to a video in which he threatened his rivals.
The reactivation of Hun Sen’s Facebook page comes right before the July 23 election, which has been widely criticized as a sham following authorities’ denial of registration to the main challenger of Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party.
With approximately 14 million followers on his page, it has become a significant communication tool for the Cambodian leader. However, the page has faced allegations of artificially inflating its fan base through “click farms” – networks of fake and real users controlled by intermediaries who sell likes.
In July, the oversight committee of Meta recommended a six-month suspension of Hun Sen’s Facebook and Instagram accounts because of a video he posted in January. In the video, he issued threats of legal action and physical violence with sticks against his opponents if they accused his party of vote theft in the upcoming polls.
Meta’s decision to take down the video was met with strong opposition from Hun Sen, and his foreign ministry described it as a politically motivated move.
As one of the world’s longest-serving leaders, Hun Sen is expected to hand over power to his eldest son, Hun Manet, upon retirement. However, human rights groups have accused him of using the legal system to suppress any opposition, resulting in the conviction of numerous political opponents during his tenure.
