Hate messages against Rohingya - Facebook in the criticism

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has sharply criticized the way Facebook is dealing with hate messages against the Rohingya minority in Burma. “In our opinion, Facebook has not been responding adequately to hate speech against the Rohingya for the past three years – and the company’s promise to change this comes too late, now that the majority of the Rohingya have already been expelled. For a social network that aims to promote understanding all around the world, playing a part in genocide crimes is a total catastrophe. Facebook must finally live up to its responsibility and combat hate speech effectively,” stated Ulrich Delius, the STP’s director, in Göttingen on Tuesday. 

Yesterday, the New York Times reported that Burma’s army is using Facebook for a systematical hate campaign against the Rohingya. According to extensive research by the newspaper, the army had carried out a targeted campaign in which up to 700 personal accounts were used to spread prejudice and hatred against the minority among the 18 million Facebook users in the country. Further, the population was warned that the country was about to be taken over by Muslims. The army had opened hundreds of false accounts in order to promote the exclusion of the Rohingya and to incite attacks against them.

In 2014/2015, scientists, IT experts, and human rights activists had already informed Facebook about the widespread misuse of the network in connection with hate messages against the Rohingya. However, the company had acted hesitantly and completely inadequately – ignoring the true extent of its abuse. “Obviously, Facebook had other priorities – such as building up the network and its market in Burma – than taking the warnings seriously,” Delius stated. Meanwhile, the social network’s contents is monitored by sub-companies in Malaysia, but there are still hundreds of tirades against the Rohingya on Facebook. For example, the Rohingya are slandered as “maggots, dogs, pigs, and rapists who should be wiped out”.

However, the systematical hate campaign is also a clear indication that the genocide crimes against the Rohingya are organized – deliberate and systematical. The serious human right violations are not to be seen as occasional incidences, but as targeted persecution – as attempts to wipe out at least parts of the Rohingya community.

Header picture: EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations via Flickr