Rohingya refugees sue Meta for $150 billion over failure to curb hate speech

Rohingya refugees in Myanmar have filed a lawsuit against Meta Inc over its failure to keep a check on hate speech and violence.

According to the complaint, ''Facebook is like a robot programmed with a singular mission: to grow. And the undeniable reality is that Facebook’s growth, fueled by hate, division, and misinformation, has left hundreds of thousands of devastated Rohingya lives in its wake.''

The Rohingyas are seeking punitive damages in the $150 billion lawsuit for being responsible of the genocide that uprooted their lives.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

In response, a Meta spokesman said ''We’ve built a dedicated team of Burmese speakers, banned the Tatmadaw, disrupted networks manipulating public debate, and taken action on harmful misinformation to help keep people safe.''

''We've also invested in Burmese-language technology to reduce the prevalence of violating content. This work is guided by feedback from experts, civil society organizations, and independent reports, including the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar’s findings and the independent Human Rights Impact Assessment we commissioned and released in 2018.''

Facebook plays an outsized role in Myanmar as the dominant internet channel and remains widely used by both protesters against military rule and soldiers.

The company had announced that would ban all Myanmar-military-controlled businesses from having a presence on its platforms.

Rafael Frankel, Meta's Pacific director of public policy for emerging countries, Asia Pacific said "This action is based on extensive documentation by the international community and civil society of these businesses' direct role in funding the Tatmadaw."

Radical Buddhist nationalists and military members had used the platform to fan a campaign of violence towards the Rohingya in 2018 as per UN human rights investigators. Around 700,000 refugees had fled an army crackdown in 2017.

(With inputs from agencies)