Facebook under UN fire for spreading hate in Myanmar and Sri Lanka

UN officials investigating allegations of genocide in Myanmar have accused Facebook of spreading vitriol against Rohingya Muslims.

The social media company was also blamed for contributing to anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka in which three people died before the country announced a state of emergency.

While Facebook is under pressure to do more against hate speech and inflammatory posts in Europe and the US, its activities in Asia have attracted less attention.

“In the West, we talk about online hate speech and yes, it’s a problem, but no one is actually dying as a result,” Dasha Ilic, a spokeswoman from Media Diversity Institution in London, told The National.

“In Asia, where you see it playing a part in ethnic cleansing or persecution, it is clearly more serious. So much more work needs to be done.”

On Monday, two UN human rights officials looking into abuses in Myanmar criticised Facebook. Marzuki Darusman, chairman of the UN’s fact-finding mission on Myanmar, said that social media had “substantively contributed to the level of acrimony and dissention and conflict” in the country.

“Hate speech is certainly of course a part of that. As far as the Myanmar situation is concerned, social media is Facebook, and Facebook is social media,” Mr Darusman said.

UN investigator Yanghee Lee said Facebook had helped Myanmar but had also been used to spread hate speech.

“It was used to convey public messages but we know that the ultra-nationalist Buddhists have their own Facebooks, and are really inciting a lot of violence and a lot of hatred against the Rohingya or other ethnic minorities,” Ms Yanghee said.

“We take this incredibly seriously and have worked with experts in Myanmar for several years to develop safety resources and counter-speech campaigns,” a Facebook spokesman said.

In Sri Lanka, similar fears that Facebook is being used to fan anti-Muslim violence led the government to impose a week-long ban on social media networks.

According to the government, violence was instigated by posts on Facebook threatening more attacks on Muslims.

On Thursday, the ban on Facebook was lifted after President Maithripala Sirisena said the tech giant had agreed to step up efforts to remove hate speech posted on its platform.

Viber and WhatsApp were unblocked the day before.