• Meta (Facebook) sued in excess of $150 billion for its role in Rohingya

    From Woke Comes For Meta@21:1/5 to All on Sat Dec 11 00:29:12 2021
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    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/

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