Rohingya Accuse Facebook of Supporting Violence against Them, Seek Payment
2022-10-06
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1The social media site Facebook is under increasing pressure to provide reparations to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
2The rights group Amnesty International has accused Facebook and its owner Meta of serious wrongdoing against the refugees from Myanmar.
3In a report released last week, Amnesty said Meta's programming "proactively amplified and promoted content" that incited violent hatred against the Rohingya.
4The report said the content began to appear on Facebook as early as 2012.
5The investigators said the company failed to remove violent posts and lies, and helped to spread such posts.
6Amnesty said the final result of Meta's actions were the 2017 killings of Rohingya in Myanmar.
7At the same time, Facebook's popularity was growing in Myanmar.
8For many people there, it served as their only connection to the online world.
9That made Facebook the main internet connection for a large part of Myanmar's population.
10More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh in 2017.
11Myanmar security forces, the Tatmadaw, were accused of killings, rapes, and other torture, as well as the burning of Rohingya villages.
12The Associated Press asked Meta about the Amnesty report.
13The company did not answer.
14In a statement, the company said it "stands in solidarity with the international community and supports efforts to hold the Tatmadaw accountable for its crimes against the Rohingya people."
15Rafael Frankel is director of public policy for emerging markets at Meta Asia-Pacific.
16He said in a statement: "Our safety and integrity work in Myanmar remains guided by feedback from local civil society organizations and international institutions, including the U.N. Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar; the Human Rights Impact Assessment we commissioned in 2018; as well as our ongoing human rights risk management."
17About one million Rohingya remain in camps.
18Most are in Bangladesh.
19They are demanding that Meta pay reparations for its part in the violent repression of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
20Earlier this year, the United States declared that situation a genocide.
21The Amnesty findings are based on reports from Rohingya refugees, former Meta employees, experts, activists and others.
22Investigators also used documents provided to the U.S. Congress last year by whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former Facebook data scientist.
23The report noted that digital rights activists say Meta has improved its supervision in Myanmar in recent years.
24In January 2021, after a violent government overthrow, Meta barred the Myanmar military from its site.
25But critics, including some Facebook employees, have argued that the current methods will never truly work.
26Meta's programming is "really dangerous to our human rights," says Pat de Brún, lawyer and researcher on artificial intelligence and human rights at Amnesty.
27What happened to the Rohingya and Facebook's part in the conflict, he continued, "risks happening again, in many different contexts across the world.
28"The company has shown itself completely unwilling or incapable of resolving the root causes of its human rights impact," de Brún said.
29After a 2018 U.N. report denounced Meta's actions in Myanmar, the company admitted that it was not doing enough to help prevent the incitement of violence.
30It changed some policies and the way it supervised the site over the next few years and claimed great success.
31But the Amnesty report said the new measures were not enough.
32The Rohingya refugees have not said what form the reparations should take.
33Meta is also the subject of two legal actions in the U.S. and Britain seeking $150 billion for Rohingya refugees.
34Meta has refused to consider reparations.
35"We believe that the genocide against Rohingya was possible only because of Facebook," said one refugee in the report.
36"They communicated with each other to spread hate, they organized campaigns through Facebook. But Facebook was silent."
37I'm Caty Weaver.
1The social media site Facebook is under increasing pressure to provide reparations to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. 2The rights group Amnesty International has accused Facebook and its owner Meta of serious wrongdoing against the refugees from Myanmar. 3In a report released last week, Amnesty said Meta's programming "proactively amplified and promoted content" that incited violent hatred against the Rohingya. The report said the content began to appear on Facebook as early as 2012. 4The investigators said the company failed to remove violent posts and lies, and helped to spread such posts. Amnesty said the final result of Meta's actions were the 2017 killings of Rohingya in Myanmar. 5At the same time, Facebook's popularity was growing in Myanmar. For many people there, it served as their only connection to the online world. That made Facebook the main internet connection for a large part of Myanmar's population. 6More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh in 2017. Myanmar security forces, the Tatmadaw, were accused of killings, rapes, and other torture, as well as the burning of Rohingya villages. 7The Associated Press asked Meta about the Amnesty report. The company did not answer. In a statement, the company said it "stands in solidarity with the international community and supports efforts to hold the Tatmadaw accountable for its crimes against the Rohingya people." 8Rafael Frankel is director of public policy for emerging markets at Meta Asia-Pacific. He said in a statement: "Our safety and integrity work in Myanmar remains guided by feedback from local civil society organizations and international institutions, including the U.N. Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar; the Human Rights Impact Assessment we commissioned in 2018; as well as our ongoing human rights risk management." 9'Dangerous to out human rights' 10About one million Rohingya remain in camps. Most are in Bangladesh. They are demanding that Meta pay reparations for its part in the violent repression of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Earlier this year, the United States declared that situation a genocide. 11The Amnesty findings are based on reports from Rohingya refugees, former Meta employees, experts, activists and others. Investigators also used documents provided to the U.S. Congress last year by whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former Facebook data scientist. 12The report noted that digital rights activists say Meta has improved its supervision in Myanmar in recent years. In January 2021, after a violent government overthrow, Meta barred the Myanmar military from its site. 13But critics, including some Facebook employees, have argued that the current methods will never truly work. 14Meta's programming is "really dangerous to our human rights," says Pat de Brún, lawyer and researcher on artificial intelligence and human rights at Amnesty. 15What happened to the Rohingya and Facebook's part in the conflict, he continued, "risks happening again, in many different contexts across the world. 16"The company has shown itself completely unwilling or incapable of resolving the root causes of its human rights impact," de Brún said. 17After a 2018 U.N. report denounced Meta's actions in Myanmar, the company admitted that it was not doing enough to help prevent the incitement of violence. It changed some policies and the way it supervised the site over the next few years and claimed great success. 18But the Amnesty report said the new measures were not enough. 19The Rohingya refugees have not said what form the reparations should take. Meta is also the subject of two legal actions in the U.S. and Britain seeking $150 billion for Rohingya refugees. 20Meta has refused to consider reparations. 21"We believe that the genocide against Rohingya was possible only because of Facebook," said one refugee in the report. "They communicated with each other to spread hate, they organized campaigns through Facebook. But Facebook was silent." 22I'm Caty Weaver. 23The Associated Press's Barbara Ortutay reported this story. Caty Weaver adapted it for VOA Learning English. 24______________________________________________________________________ 25Words in This Story 26reparations - n. money given as a way of correcting a past mistake 27amplify -v. to increase the strength of something 28promote -v. to help something happen or increase 29integrity -n. the quality of being honest and fair 30institution -n. an established organization 31commission -v. to order or request that something be done 32whistleblower -n. a person show tells police, reporters or lawmakers about something that has been kept secret and that often involves wrongdoing 33digital -adj. related to computers 34artificial -adj. not natural, made by people 35context -n. the situation in which something happens 36impact -n. the influence or effect of something 37______________________________________________________________________ 38We want to hear from you. What did you think of this story? 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