The move, which takes effect immediately, applies to the
military and entities controlled by the armed forces on both Facebook and
Instagram.
It also bans all "military-linked commercial
entities" from advertising on the platforms.
"Events since the February 1 coup, including deadly
violence, have precipitated a need for this ban," the social media giant
said in a statement.
"We believe the risks of allowing the Tatmadaw on
Facebook and Instagram are too great," it added, using the Myanmar name
for the country's armed forces.
Security forces have steadily increased the use of force
against a massive and largely peaceful civil disobedience campaign demanding
Myanmar's junta relinquish power.
Three anti-coup protesters have been killed in
demonstrations so far, while a man patrolling his Yangon neighbourhood against
night arrests was also shot dead.
The military has used Facebook to boost its claims that
voter fraud had marred an election last November that ousted civilian leader
Aung San Suu Kyi had won in a landslide.
In recent years, the social media giant has banned hundreds
of army-linked pages after being criticised for its ineffective response to
malicious posts in the country.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing and other top brass were booted
from the platform in 2018, a year after a military-led crackdown forced around
750,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh.
Thursday's announcement follows Facebook's decision on the
weekend to ban a page run by the regime's "True News" information
service. -AFP
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