The Myanmar military has been banned from Facebook and Instagram with immediate effect, as the first pro-military rally took place in Yangon.
In a blog post, Facebook said: “Events since the February 1 coup, including deadly violence, have precipitated a need for this ban,” adding: “We believe the risks of allowing the Tatmadaw (Myanmar army) on Facebook and Instagram are too great.”
The army seized power this month after alleging fraud in a 8 November election won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), and detaining her and much of the party leadership.
Facebook said it would also ban all “Tadmadaw-linked commercial entities” from advertising on its platforms.
It said the decision to ban the Myanmar army was due to “exceptionally severe human rights abuses and the clear risk of future military-initiated violence in Myanmar”, as well as the army’s repeated history of violating Facebook’s rules, including since the coup.
On the weekend Facebook said it had deleted a page belonging to the military’s propaganda agency, Tatmadaw True News Information Team Page, under its standards prohibiting the incitement of violence.
The military government could not immediately be reached for comment.
Facebook is widely used in Myanmar and has been one of the ways the junta has communicated with people, despite an official move to ban on the platform in the early days of the coup.
In the commercial capital, Yangon, hundreds of pro-military demonstrators marched through downtown towards the central railway station, though the crowd was a fraction of the size of anti-coup protests.
Democracy supporters met them with crossed wrists and banged pots and pans.
Some pro-military demonstrators damaged cars, punched bystanders and threatened reporters who were following the march.
A photographer said one shot a stone from a slingshot that cut open his leg.
Police removed a barricade at a major intersection erected to block anti-coup rallies, so pro-military supporters could pass through.
Police blocked the gates of the university campus, stopping hundreds from coming out to march.
“We students have to bring down the dictatorship,” said Kaung Sat Wai, 25, outside Yangon’s main university campus.
“Since the coup our lives have become hopeless, our dreams have died.”
Doctors were due to hold a protest on Thursday as part of a so-called white coat revolution.
Three protesters and one policeman have been killed in the protests that have swept the country since the coup on 1 February.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained incommunicado since the coup, at her home in the capital, Naypyitaw, but her party says its November victory must be respected.
Reuters contributed to this report