Access to Facebook is currently disrupted for some people in Myanmar following coup, says company

Days after
the military coup in Myanmar, social media giant Facebook on Thursday said its services were being restricted in some parts of the country.

“We are aware
that access to Facebook is currently disrupted for some people,” AFP quoted a company
spokesperson as saying.

“We urge
authorities to restore connectivity so that people in Myanmar can communicate
with their families and friends and access important information.”

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The social
media platform is widely popular in Myanmar and is one of the primary methods of communication. Government officials also frequently take to Facebook to
issue statements.

NetBlocks,
which monitors internet outages across the world, said service providers were
blocking or restricting access to Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, the latter
two also owned by Facebook.

“Facebook
products are now restricted on multiple internet providers in #Myanmar as
operators comply with an apparent blocking order,” the company said in a tweet.

State-owned
internet provider MPT had taken the most widespread action to block access to
Facebook and its products, it added.