The normally very lively Fb account for Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia appeared to have been deleted on Friday, a day after the oversight board for Meta, Fb’s dad or mum firm, really useful that he be suspended from the platform for threatening political opponents with violence.

The showdown pits the social media behemoth towards considered one of Asia’s longest-ruling autocrats.

Mr. Hun Sen, 70, has dominated Cambodia since 1985 and maintained energy partly by silencing his critics. He’s a staunch ally of China, a rustic whose assist comes freed from American-style admonishments on the worth of human rights and democratic establishments.

A be aware Friday on Mr. Hun Sen’s account, which had about 14 million followers, mentioned that its content material “isn’t obtainable proper now.” It was not instantly clear if Mr. Hun Sen had preemptively deleted it, as he had vowed to do in a submit late Thursday on Telegram, a social media platform the place he has a a lot smaller following. A Meta spokesman mentioned on Friday that the corporate had not suspended or in any other case eliminated Mr. Hun Sen’s Fb account.

“That he stopped utilizing Fb is his non-public proper,” Phay Siphan, a spokesman for the Cambodian authorities, informed The New York Occasions on Friday. “Different Cambodians use it, and that’s their proper.”

The corporate-appointed oversight board for Meta had on Thursday really useful a minimal six-month suspension of Mr. Hun Sen’s accounts on Fb and Instagram, which Meta additionally owns. The board additionally mentioned that considered one of Mr. Hun Sen’s Fb movies had violated Meta’s guidelines on “violence and incitement” and needs to be taken down.

Within the video, Mr. Hun Sen delivered a speech by which he responded to allegations of vote-stealing by calling on his political opponents to decide on between the authorized system and “a bat.”

“For those who say that’s freedom of expression, I may also categorical my freedom by sending folks to your house and residential,” Mr. Hun Sen mentioned within the speech, in response to Meta.

Meta had beforehand determined to maintain the video on-line beneath a coverage that enables the platform to permit content material that violates Fb’s group requirements on the grounds that it’s newsworthy and within the public curiosity. However the oversight board mentioned on Thursday that it was overturning the choice, calling it “incorrect.”

The board added that its advice to droop Mr. Hun Sen’s accounts for at the very least six months was justified given the severity of the violation and his “historical past of committing human rights violations and intimidating political opponents, and his strategic use of social media to amplify such threats.”

Meta later mentioned in an announcement that it will take away the offending video to adjust to the board’s determination. The corporate additionally mentioned that it will reply to the suspension advice after analyzing it.

Critics of Fb have lengthy mentioned that the platform can undermine democracy, promote violence and assist politicians unfairly goal their critics, notably in international locations with weak establishments.

Mr. Hun Sen has spent years cracking down on the information media and political opposition in an effort to consolidate his grip on energy. In February, he ordered the shutdown of one of many nation’s final impartial information shops, saying he didn’t like its protection of his son and presumed successor, Lt. Gen. Hun Manet.

Beneath Mr. Hun Sen, the federal government has additionally pushed for extra authorities surveillance of the web, a transfer that rights teams say makes it even simpler for the authorities to watch and punish on-line content material.

Mr. Hun Sen’s giant Fb following could overstate his precise assist. In 2018, considered one of his most distinguished political opponents, Sam Rainsy, argued in a California courtroom that the prime minister used so-called click on farms to build up hundreds of thousands of counterfeit followers.

Mr. Sam Rainsy, who lives in exile, additionally argued that Mr. Hun Sen had used Fb to unfold false information tales and demise threats directed at political opponents. The courtroom later denied his request that Fb be compelled to launch information of promoting purchases by Mr. Hun Sen and his allies.

In 2017, an opposition political social gathering that Mr. Sam Rainsy had led, the Cambodia Nationwide Rescue Celebration, was dissolved by the nation’s highest courtroom. Extra lately, the Cambodian authorities have disqualified different opposition events from operating in a basic election subsequent month.

At a public occasion in Cambodia on Friday, Mr. Hun Sen mentioned that his political opponents exterior the nation had been absolutely glad along with his determination to give up Fb.

“You need to bear in mind that if I order Fb to be shut down in Cambodia, it is going to strongly have an effect on you,” he added, talking at an occasion for garment staff forward of the overall election. “However this isn’t the trail that I select.”