Facebook Deemed Responsible for Chaos in Myanmar

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By Faith MagbanuaMarch 14th, 2018

A new investigation in the issue of the Rohingya Muslims reveals that social media may have been the reason for the current issue in the region.

According to the interim report of UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar on Monday, they said that they use of Facebook had played a "determining role" in stirring up hatred against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and "turned into a beast."

About 700,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since Myanmar's military launched an operation in August last year against "insurgents" in the Rakhine state.

According to the chairman of the mission Marzuki Darusman, he said that social media had "substantively contributed to the level of acrimony" amongst the wider public against Rohingya Muslims.

"Hate speech is certainly, of course, a part of that," he added. "As far as the Myanmar situation is concerned, social media is Facebook and Facebook is social media."

A colleague acknowledged that the service had helped people in the country communicate with each other but, Special Reporter on the situation of human rights, Yanghee Lee said: "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.

"I'm afraid that Facebook has now turned into a beast, and not what it originally intended." she adds

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.

In addition, the team has also analyzed satellite imagery, photographs and video footage taken within Myanmar.

Meanwhile, Facebook has said there is "no place for hate speech" on its platform following the report.

"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 news sources.

"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. Of course, there is always more we can do and we will continue to work with local experts to help keep our community safe."

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