Rohingya refugees sue social media giant on MondayFacebook“claiming that the social network does not eradicate hate speech on its platform, thus exacerbating violence against the Muslim Rohingya community.
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They have demanded 150 billion from Facebook ASV compensation (USD 133 billion).
A lawsuit filed in a U.S. state court says Facebook’s algorithms encourage misinformation and extremist thinking that turn into real violence.
“Facebook is like a robot programmed with one mission: to grow,” the court said.
“The undeniable reality is that Facebook’s growth, fueled by hatred, division and misinformation, has left hundreds of thousands of ruined Rohingya alive,” the document said.
The Rohingya face widespread discrimination in Myanmar, where the majority population is Buddhist. Myanmar considers Rohingya Muslims to be Bengalis from Bangladesh, although Rohingya families have lived in Myanmar for several generations. Almost all Rohingya have been denied Myanmar citizenship since 1982, making them virtually stateless. They are also denied freedom of movement and other fundamental rights.
The Rohingya crisis erupted on August 25, 2017, when the Myanmar army in Rakhine State launched a campaign against Rohingya rebels in response to an attack by a rebel group. The campaign prompted some 740,000 Rohingya to flee Myanmar to Bangladesh, and security forces have been accused of mass rapes and killings and the burning of thousands of homes.
The UN has equated the campaign with genocide.
A lawsuit filed in a California court says Facebook’s algorithms are encouraging affected users to join increasingly extreme groups, and the situation is “open to exploiting autocratic policies and regimes.”
Advocacy groups have long argued that Facebook is not doing enough to prevent the spread of misinformation on the Internet.
Critics say that even if Facebook is informed of a hate speech on its platform, the company will not act.
Critics accuse the social media giant of spreading lies, affecting the lives of minorities and distorting elections in democracies such as the United States, where unfounded allegations of fraud are spreading among like-minded friends.
Facebook documents leaked by alarming Francis Haugen this year sparked a scandal, showing the company puts profits and growth above the safety of its users.
Haugen testified in the U.S. Congress in October that Facebook promoted ethnic violence in several countries.
Under U.S. law, Facebook is largely protected from liability for content posted by its users. Therefore, the Rohingya complaint states that the law of Myanmar, which does not offer such protection, should probably be relied upon in this case.
Facebook is under pressure in the US and the European Union (EU) to curb false information, especially in connection with the election and the coronavirus.
The company has partnered with a number of media companies, including AFP, to verify content and delete false information.
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