The military in Myanmar has blocked access to Facebook, three days after it staged a coup and took over the reins of the country, reported BBC on Thursday.

The country’s military had on Monday staged the takeover and detained several leaders of the country’s ruling National League for Democracy. On Tuesday, Myanmar Army Chief General Min Aung Hlaing justified the action, saying the ouster of Aung San Suu Kyi’s government was inevitable.

A letter by Myanmar’s Ministry of Communications and Information said Facebook would be blocked until February 7 for the sake of “stability”, reported Reuters. “Currently the people who are troubling the country’s stability...are spreading fake news and misinformation and causing misunderstanding among people by using Facebook,” the ministry letter claimed.

Facebook confirmed that residents of Myanmar were not being able to access the social media platform. “We are aware that access to Facebook is currently disrupted for some people,” a spokesperson of the social networking site told AFP. “We urge authorities to restore connectivity so that people in Myanmar can communicate with their families and friends and access important information.”

The website NetBlocks, which tracks internet outages around the world, said multiple internet service providers in Myanmar were restricting access “as operators comply with an apparent blocking order”.

At least half of Myanmar’s population of 53 million use Facebook, which is considered to be an important source of communication.

The police in Myanmar have filed several charges against Suu Kyi after the military seized power in a coup against her democratically elected government. The charges against Suu Kyi include breaching import and export laws and possession of unlawful communication devices, including walkie-talkies found at her home in Nay Pyi Taw.

She was remanded in custody “to question witnesses, request evidence and seek legal counsel after questioning the defendant”, according to a police document submitted to a court. The documents also show that Suu Kyi has been remanded in custody till February 15, but her whereabouts are still unclear.

Activists in Myanmar have called for civil disobedience. On Tuesday, scores of people in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, honked car horns and banged on pots and pans as a part of public resistance to the coup.

The coup followed the landslide victory of National League for Democracy and Suu Kyi in national elections in November, with the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party faring poorly in its key strongholds.

The country’s military refused to accept the government, citing unsubstantiated allegations of fraud. It was also announced that the coup was the result of the government’s failure to delay the November election despite the outbreak of the coronavirus.

The international community condemned the Myanmar military’s action, with United Nations chief Antonio Guterres saying on Wednesday that he would put pressure to ensure that the coup failed. The United Nations Security Council also held an emergency meeting on the matter on Tuesday.

“We will do everything we can to mobilise all the key actors and international community to put enough pressure on Myanmar to make sure that this coup fails,” Guterres told The Washington Post in an interview. “After elections that I believe took place normally and after a large period of transition, it’s absolutely unacceptable to reverse the results of the elections and the will of the people.”

After strongly opposing the military’s attempt to “impede Myanmar’s democratic transition” , United States President Joe Biden threatened to reinstate sanctions on the country. The US had removed sanctions over the past decade as Myanmar progressed to democracy.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne had on Monday also called for the release of Suu Kyi and others reported to be detained. On the same day, the Indian foreign ministry expressed deep concern about the military coup, and said it was monitoring the situation closely.