Burmese civil society groups have hit back at Mark Zuckerberg in an open letter accusing Facebook of failing to curb hate speech that has raised religious tension in the restive nation.
Facebook has been on the defensive against allegations its platform has helped fuel communal bloodshed in Myanmar, a mainly Buddhist nation accused of waging an ethnic cleansing campaign against Rohingya Muslims.
The joint letter was a response to comments Zuckerberg made in an interview with news site Vox published this week, in which he cited examples of both Myanmar Buddhists and Muslims spreading “sensational” messages on Facebook Messenger that warned of imminent violence from the other community.
Photo: AFP
“That’s the kind of thing where I think it is clear that people were trying to use our tools in order to incite real harm,” Zuckerberg was quoted as saying.
“Now, in that case, our systems detect that that’s going on. We stop those messages from going through,” he said.
In their letter, the six local tech and human rights organizations said they were “surprised” to hear Zuckerberg “praise the effectiveness” of Facebook’s systems in Myanmar.
The social media giant’s response to hate speech and rumors in Myanmar has been “inadequate” for years, said the groups, which have been trying to flag dangerous content to Facebook.
“It took over four days from when the messages started circulating for the escalation to reach you,” the letter said.
“Far from being stopped, they spread in an unprecedented way, reaching countrywide and causing widespread fear and at least three violent incidents in the process,” it said.
They called on the company to improve its tools to flag incendiary posts, increase transparency, boost engagement with local stakeholders, and draw on data and engineering teams to identify repeat offenders.
They said offers to help craft broader solutions have gone unanswered.
Facebook did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but has previously touted efforts to bolster its Myanmar operations by adding staff, improving “language capabilities” and encouraging local groups to report dangerous content.
In late January Facebook removed the page of popular anti-Rohingya monk Wirathu. Last year it regulated the use of the word “kalar,” which is considered derogatory against Muslims.
The site dwarfs all other social media platforms in Myanmar, where it has become the chief channel for communication among both the public and government ministries.
However, it has come under fire for allegedly helping broadcast ethnic hatred in a fledgling democracy still emerging from decades of repressive junta rule.
Scrutiny has intensified in the wake of a bloody military campaign against the Rohingya that erupted in August last year, expelling about 700,000 of the minority to Bangladesh.
Last month, UN special rapporteur to Myanmar Yanghee Lee said Facebook had morphed into a “beast” and had incited “a lot of violence and a lot of hatred against the Rohingya or other ethnic minorities.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the