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

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/