Facebook, a dominant internet platform in Myanmar, with more than 20 million users has recently denied providing information related to Myanmar military who are allegedly involved in 2017’s “genocide” against Rohingya.
A UK based Rohingya organization, Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) yesterday said, “Facebook must immediately cooperate fully and transparently with all international efforts to secure justice for the ongoing genocide against the Rohingya in Myanmar.”
The BROUK president Tun Khin stated on their press release, “For years, Facebook has been used as a platform to spread hatred and abuse that has fuelled the genocide against the Rohingya. Instead of hiding behind legal acrobatics, Facebook must do everything it can to help those who are fighting for justice.”
Also the head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism on Myanmar (IIMM), Nicholas Koumjian said, Facebook had not released evidence to the Mechanism yet. The Mechanism was established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2018 to collect evidence of crimes against the Rohingya by Myanmar authorities to support future prosecutions.
Two years back, a report commissioned by Facebook detailed how the company had failed to do enough to prevent the platform from being used to spread hatred and incite violence against the Rohingya. The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar has also documented how the platform was used to fuel violence against people in Rakhine State.
However, Facebook has taken steps to cancel abusive accounts and to step up both automatic and manual monitoring of content in Myanmar language but Tun Khin believes, closing a few accounts is not enough if Facebook has evidence of the genocide against the Rohingya it must make it available immediately.
