The power and pain of propaganda

The expulsion of 700,000 refugees; the deaths of perhaps 25,000 people; untold rapes, terror and dehumanisation: the last year has been very grim in the north and west of Myanmar. Now a United Nations report, a year in the making, has condemned the army’s leadership by name for participation in war crimes against ethnic and religious minorities. The actions of six named generals meet the standard for investigation and prosecution for genocide, the report concludes.

Myanmar is not the only part of the world disfigured by systematic campaigns against a civilian population, but it is distinguished from those cases by one interesting factor: the importance of Facebook, and the services it owns, in whipping up and sustaining hatred.

Like it or not, this puts the company in a position of considerable power. It is arguable that within Myanmar Mark Zuckerberg is more powerful than the UN secretary-general, since he could, if he wished, cut off one of the main distribution channels for propaganda against the Rohingya and other minorities. The company has banned 18 accounts (and one Instagram account) with a total of 12 million followers. This is too little and too late. Putting pressure on a private company to monitor and control the internet in a foreign country is obviously problematic. But what else can the international community do?