Facebook has been accused of using algorithms that amplified hate
speech and failing to take down specific posts inciting violence
against the Rohingya people.

Rohingya refugees have launched two class action lawsuits valued in
excess of $150 billion against Meta, formerly known as Facebook, for
its role in sparking the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar.

The lawsuits, which were filed anonymously in the UK and US, allege
that the Facebook platform widely disseminated anti-Rohingya hate
speech and misinformation while also helping users incite violence,
which culminated in the rape, death, and torture of hundreds of
thousands of Rohingya.

The Rohingya people are a Muslim minority that has historically
lived in present-day Myanmar, but have faced persecution and human
rights violations from the local government and extremist Buddhists
in the country.

The UK lawsuit was brought on behalf of all non-US resident Rohingya
survivors around the world, while the separate US claim will be for
the Rohingya community based in the US.

In the originating complaint [PDF] for the US lawsuit, the refugees
allege that Facebook executives allowed posts ordering hits by the
Myanmar government on Rohingya people to remain on the platform
despite having known about its existence for years.

The complaint claims that Facebook's algorithms recommended
susceptible users to join extremist groups, where users are
conditioned to post even more inflammatory and divisive content, as
it inflated the user data Facebook presented to financial markets.
In doing so, Facebook's News Feed allegedly prioritised and rewarded
radical users who sparked the Rohingya genocide as negative content
as that provided the most engagement on the platform.

"To maximise engagement, Facebook does not merely fill users' News
Feeds with disproportionate amounts of hate speech and
misinformation; it employs a system of social rewards that
manipulates and trains users to create such content," the plaintiffs
wrote in the complaint.

"At the core of this complaint is the realisation that Facebook was
willing to trade the lives of the Rohingya people for better market
penetration in a small country in Southeast Asia."

According to the complaint, Facebook only conceded in 2018 that its
platform was used to foment division and incite offline violence
after the Rohingya genocide had already happened. This was despite
Facebook being warned from around 2013 onwards about extensive
anti-Rohingya posts, groups, and accounts on its platform, the
complaint said.

The complaint also states that the social media platform has
continued to fail to prevent misinformation in Myanmar as there are
allegedly still many fake accounts in existence that create
inauthentic activity supporting the Myanmar military.

To remedy these accusations, both class action lawsuits are seeking
more than $150 billion in reparations for the wrongful death,
personal injury, pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of
property suffered by the Rohingya people.

While one of the cases has been filed in the US, for that particular
matter, the refugees are seeking for it to be trialled under Burmese
law so that Meta is unable to use Section 230 of the Communications
Decency Act, which could allow the tech giant to avoid any liability
regarding any content posted by users on Facebook.

Under Burmese laws, companies can be liable for content on their
social media platforms if it incites violence and contributes to
genocide.

The lawsuits follow Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen slamming
Facebook about its alleged use of opaque algorithms to spread
harmful content. Her accusations that these algorithms could trigger
a growing number of violent events, such as the attacks on the US
Capitol Building that occurred last January, were cited in the
lawsuit.

Similar arguments have been filed in the UK lawsuit. For that
lawsuit, the Rohingya refugee's legal representatives have so far
given Facebook formal notice of their intention to initiate
proceedings.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/meta-slapped-with-two-class-action-
lawsuits-worth-in-excess-of-150b-for-its-role-in-rohingya-genocide/