Hate ECHO CHAMBERS
against the
                                ROHINGYA MUSLIM MINORITY IN MYANMAR

Some of the most troubling implications of governments and other bad actors weaponizing social media is that it has led to real offline harm.
I think that the most prominent example that's gotten a lot of press is what's happened in Myanmar.

In Myanmar, when people think of the Internet, what they are thinking about is Facebook. What often happens is, when people buy their cell phones, the cell phone shop owner will actually preload Facebook on there for them and open an account for them. So when people get their phone, the first thing they open and the only thing they know how to open is Facebook.

                                – Cynthia Wong

                                                                   Source:[6]

The Rohingya are a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority based in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State. In August 2017, more than 700,000 Rohingya fled Rakhine when the Myanmar security forces launched a targeted campaign of widespread and systematic murder, rape and burning of homes.

In the months and years prior to the crackdown, Facebook in Myanmar had become an echo chamber of anti-Rohingya content.
Actors linked to the Myanmar military and radical Buddhist nationalist groups flooded the platform with anti-Muslim content, posting disinformation claiming there was going to be an impending Muslim takeover, and portraying the Rohingya as invaders.

While the Myanmar military was committing crimes against humanity against the Rohingya, Meta was profiting from the echo chamber of hatred created by its hate-spiraling algorithms. Meta must be held to account. The company now has a responsibility to provide reparations to all those who suffered the violent consequences of their reckless actions.

– Agnès Callamard
(Amnesty International’s
Secretary General)

Sawyeddollah left Myanmar in 2017 with his family and is now living in Bangladesh as a Forcibly Displaced Myanmar National.

When I see the mountain of Myanmar, I feel very sad.
I sometimes remember how I crossed these mountains.

Now Facebook in its capacity can't give us the life we lost. It destroyed our lives but it can't remake them.

I hope Facebook will provide us
a remediation one day.

Now it's time for Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, to come here and meet with us. His business contributed to the violence we suffered. The owner of Facebook must have the capacity to repair the losses of the people it is responsible for.

                                – Sawyeddollah

In one internal document dated August 2019,
one Meta employee wrote:

We have evidence from a variety of sources that hate speech, divisive political speech, and misinformation on Facebook... are affecting societies around the world. We also have compelling evidence that our core product mechanics, such as virality, recommendations, and optimizing for engagement, are a significant part of why these types of speech flourish on the platform.

Rohingya refugee groups have made direct requests to Meta to provide a remedy by funding a USD $1 million education project in the refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The funding request represents just 0.002% of Meta’s profits of $46.7 billion from 2021. In February 2021, Meta rejected the Rohingya community’s request, stating: 'Facebook doesn’t directly engage in philanthropic activities'.

Ultimately, States must now help to protect human rights by introducing and enforcing effective legislation to rein in surveillance-based business models across the technology sector. Big Tech has proven itself incapable
of doing so when it has such enormous profits at stake.
                          – Agnès Callamard
                (Amnesty International’s
                           Secretary General)

                                                                  Source:[10]