UN investigators have accused Facebook of playing a “determining role” in stirring up hatred against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.<\/p>\n
One of the team probing possible acts of genocide said Facebook had “turned into a beast.”<\/p>\n
About 700,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since Myanmar’s military launched an operation in August against “insurgents” in Rakhine state.<\/p>\n
Facebook has said there is “no place for hate speech” on its platform.<\/p>\n
“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 spokeswoman told the BBC.<\/p>\n
“This work includes a dedicated Safety Page for Myanmar, a locally illustrated version of our Community Standards, and regular training sessions for civil society and local community groups across the country.<\/p>\n
“Of course, there is always more we can do and we will continue to work with local experts to help keep our community safe.”<\/p>\n
‘Incitement to violence’
\nThe UN’s Fact-finding Mission on Myanmar announced the interim findings of its investigation on Monday.<\/p>\n
During a press conference the chairman of the mission, Marzuki Darusman, said that social media had “substantively contributed to the level of acrimony” amongst the wider public, against Rohingya Muslims.<\/p>\n
“Hate speech is certainly, of course, a part of that,” he added.<\/p>\n
“As far as the Myanmar situation is concerned, social media is Facebook and Facebook is social media.”<\/p>\n
A colleague acknowledged that the service had helped people in the country communicate with each other.<\/p>\n
But Yanghee Lee, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, added: “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.<\/p>\n
“I’m afraid that Facebook has now turned into a beast, and not what it originally intended.”<\/p>\n
The interim report is based on more than 600 interviews with human rights abuse victims and witnesses, which were carried out in Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand.<\/p>\n
In addition the team has analysed satellite imagery, photographs and video footage taken within Myanmar.<\/p>\n
“People died from gunshot wounds, often due to indiscriminate shooting at fleeing villagers,” the report said.<\/p>\n
“Some were burned alive in their homes – often the elderly, disabled and young children. Others were hacked to death.”<\/p>\n
The government of Myanmar has previously said the UN needs to provide “clear evidence” to support allegations of crimes against Rohingya.<\/p>\n
Officials have claimed that “clearance operations” against militants responsible for attacks on police stations ended in September, but that has been disputed.<\/p>\n
Refugees and human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, have accused the military of carrying out executions, rapes and the burning and bulldozing of hundreds of villages.<\/p>\n
The UN has said that the government has attempted to block its efforts to carry out an independent investigation.<\/p>\n
Facebook has previously discussed the problems it has faced trying to tackle hate speech in the country.<\/p>\n
Last July, it gave the example of policing use of the word “kalar”, which it said could be used both innocuously and as a slur against Muslims.<\/p>\n
“We looked at the way the word’s use was evolving, and decided our policy should be to remove it as hate speech when used to attack a person or group, but not in the other harmless use cases,” it explained.<\/p>\n
“We’ve had trouble enforcing this policy correctly recently, mainly due to the challenges of understanding the context; after further examination, we’ve been able to get it right. But we expect this to be a long-term challenge.”<\/p>\n
A final report from the UN team is due to be published in September.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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