Rohingya Accuse Facebook of Supporting Violence against Them, Seek Payment

Rohingya Accuse Facebook of Supporting Violence against Them, Seek Payment

The social media site Facebook is under increasing pressure to provide reparations to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

The rights group Amnesty International has accused Facebook and its owner Meta of serious wrongdoing against the refugees from Myanmar.

In a report released last week, Amnesty said Meta's programming "proactively amplified¹ and promoted content" that incited² violent hatred³ against the Rohingya. The report said the content began to appear on Facebook as early as 2012.

The investigators⁴ said the company failed to remove violent posts and lies, and helped to spread such posts. Amnesty said the final result of Meta's actions were the 2017 killings⁵ of Rohingya in Myanmar.

At the same time, Facebook's popularity was growing in Myanmar. For many people there, it served as their only connection to the online world. That made Facebook the main internet connection for a large part of Myanmar's population.

More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh in 2017. Myanmar security forces, the Tatmadaw, were accused of killings, rapes⁶, and other torture, as well as the burning of Rohingya villages.

The Associated Press asked Meta about the Amnesty report. The company did not answer. In a statement, the company said it "stands in solidarity⁷ with the international community and supports efforts to hold the Tatmadaw accountable for its crimes against the Rohingya people."

Rafael Frankel is director of public policy for emerging markets at Meta Asia-Pacific. He said in a statement: "Our safety and integrity work in Myanmar remains⁸ guided by feedback from local civil society organizations and international institutions, including the U.N. Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar; the Human Rights Impact Assessment⁹ we commissioned in 2018; as well as our ongoing¹⁰ human rights risk management."

'Dangerous to out human rights'

About one million Rohingya remain in camps. Most are in Bangladesh. They are demanding that Meta pay reparations for its part in the violent repression¹¹ of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Earlier this year, the United States declared that situation a genocide.

The Amnesty findings are based on reports from Rohingya refugees, former Meta employees, experts, activists¹² and others. Investigators also used documents provided to the U.S. Congress last year by whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former Facebook data scientist.

The report noted¹³ that digital rights activists say Meta has improved its supervision¹⁴ in Myanmar in recent years. In January 2021, after a violent government overthrow¹⁵, Meta barred the Myanmar military from its site.

But critics, including some Facebook employees, have argued that the current methods will never truly work.

Meta's programming is "really dangerous to our human rights," says Pat de Brún, lawyer and researcher on artificial intelligence and human rights at Amnesty.

What happened to the Rohingya and Facebook's part in the conflict, he continued, "risks happening again, in many different contexts across the world.

"The company has shown itself completely unwilling¹⁶ or incapable¹⁷ of resolving the root causes of its human rights impact," de Brún said.

After a 2018 U.N. report denounced Meta's actions in Myanmar, the company admitted that it was not doing enough to help prevent the incitement¹⁸ of violence. It changed some policies and the way it supervised the site over the next few years and claimed great success.

But the Amnesty report said the new measures were not enough.

The Rohingya refugees have not said what form the reparations should take. Meta is also the subject of two legal actions in the U.S. and Britain seeking $150 billion for Rohingya refugees.

Meta has refused to consider reparations.

"We believe that the genocide against Rohingya was possible only because of Facebook," said one refugee in the report. "They communicated with each other to spread hate, they organized campaigns through Facebook. But Facebook was silent."

Words in This Story

reparations – n. money given as a way of correcting a past mistake

amplify¹⁹ –v. to increase the strength of something

promote –v. to help something happen or increase

integrity –n. the quality of being honest and fair

institution –n. an established organization

commission –v. to order or request that something be done

whistleblower –n. a person show tells police, reporters or lawmakers about something that has been kept secret and that often involves wrongdoing

digital –adj. related to computers

artificial –adj. not natural, made by people

context –n. the situation in which something happens

impact –n. the influence or effect of something

1 amplified   

放大，扩大( amplify的过去式和过去分词 )； 增强； 详述

参考例句：

• He amplified on his remarks with drawings and figures. 他用图表详细地解释了他的话。
• He amplified the whole course of the incident. 他详述了事件的全过程。

2 incited   

刺激，激励，煽动( incite的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He incited people to rise up against the government. 他煽动人们起来反对政府。
• The captain's example incited the men to bravery. 船长的榜样激发了水手们的勇敢精神。

3 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

4 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

6 rapes   

n.芸苔( rape的名词复数 )；强奸罪；强奸案；肆意损坏v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的第三人称单数 )；强奸

参考例句：

• The man who had committed several rapes was arrested. 那个犯了多起强奸案的男人被抓起来了。 来自辞典例句
• The incidence of reported rapes rose 0.8 percent. 美国联邦调查局还发布了两份特别报告。 来自互联网

7 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

10 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

11 repression   

n.镇压，抑制，抑压

参考例句：

• The repression of your true feelings is harmful to your health.压抑你的真实感情有害健康。
• This touched off a new storm against violent repression.这引起了反对暴力镇压的新风暴。

12 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

14 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

15 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

16 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

17 incapable   

adj.无能力的，不能做某事的

参考例句：

• He would be incapable of committing such a cruel deed.他不会做出这么残忍的事。
• Computers are incapable of creative thought.计算机不会创造性地思维。

18 incitement   

激励； 刺激； 煽动； 激励物

参考例句：

• incitement to racial hatred 种族仇恨的挑起
• Interest is an incitement to study. 兴趣刺激学习。

19 amplify   

vt.放大，增强；详述，详加解说

参考例句：

• The new manager wants to amplify the company.新经理想要扩大公司。
• Please amplify your remarks by giving us some examples.请举例详述你的话。