Two world leaders found guilty of misusing social media and mass media for elections

Colombo (News 1st) - Two prominent heads of government - Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro and Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen - have been censured for misusing mass media and social media respectively for their election campaigns, foreign media reported.

Brazil's Supreme Electoral Court found Bolsonaro guilty of abusing power and misusing public media during last year's presidential election, which he lost, and banned him from running for office again for the next eight years. This will may end the political career of the hardline right-wing politician, who is currently 68 years old.

Meanwhile, the Oversight Board of Meta recommended a six-month ban on the Facebook and Instagram accounts of Cambodia's Hun Sen for posting a video that allegedly called for violence against his political opponents ahead of an upcoming election. An avid user of social media, Mr. Sen is now threatening to ban Facebook from Cambodia. He has ruled Cambodia since 1985.

The Cambodian Premier is seen in the video stating that his opponents who accused him of vote-stealing would have to choose between the legal system and "a bat". He further stated that "If you say that’s freedom of expression, I will also express my freedom by sending people to your place and home."

On Friday it appeared that Mr. Sen, who has 14 million followers on Facebook, had himself deleted his FB account after the Oversight Board's decision.