Facebook hit by Rohingya hate claims

Facebook admitted it did not act quickly enough to stop online incitement against Rohingya people in Myanmar, saying it “should do more”.

The admission came after a report, commissioned by Facebook, found that the network failed to keep false information and hate speech off its platform. Despite improvements there was still a “high likelihood” that hate speech is still being posted on Facebook in Myanmar today, it said.

“The report concludes that, prior to this year, we weren’t doing enough to help prevent our platform from being used to foment division and incite offline violence,” Facebook’s product policy manager Alex Warofka said.

“We agree that we can and should do more.”

More than 700,000 Rohingya fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh since last summer as a campaign of violence, rape and murder against the Muslim minority was unleashed by the country’s military. The UN has called for senior military commanders to be investigated and tried for crimes against civilians, including genocide.

Although the report made little mention of the Rohingya specifically, it laid blame for “offline violence” in Myanmar at Facebook’s door.

A lack of action on hate speech and misinformation, combined with Myanmar’s inadequate legal protection of human rights led to an “enabling environment” for human rights abuses, it claimed.

“There are indications that organised groups make use of multiple fake accounts and news pages to spread hate speech, fake news and misinformation for political gain,” the report stated.