Russian ‘Facebook’ bans Myanmar army chief, hardline monk

YANGON: Russian social media site VKontakte (VK) has followed Facebook by banning Myanmar´s army chief and a nationalist monk known for stirring up Islamophobia in a country condemned globally for the treatment of its Rohingya Muslims.

Facebook blacklisted Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other top military brass three weeks ago after a damning report by UN investigators called for their prosecution for genocide over the army´s brutal crackdown on the Rohingya.

The military head immediately opened up an account on VK, which has a very similar blue and white interface to its Silicon Valley counterpart but is hosted by Myanmar´s staunch ally Russia.

He quickly amassed some 37,000 followers but users Monday were greeted with a message that the account had been suspended "due to a violation of the VK terms of service".