Meta was accused in a lawsuit of allowing posts that ignited the war in Tigray to flourish on Facebook, after an Observer investigation in February revealed repeated inaction on posts that incited violence.
The lawsuit, filed in the high court of Kenya, where Meta’s operations are based in sub-Saharan Africa, alleges that Facebook’s recommendation systems amplified hateful and violent posts in the context of the war in northern Ethiopia, which raged for two years until a cease-fire was declared. fire was established. agreed in early November. The lawsuit seeks the creation of a $1.6 billion (£1.3 billion) fund for victims of hate speech.
One of the petitioners said that his father, an Ethiopian academic, was the target of racist messages before his murder in November 2021, and that Facebook had not removed the posts despite complaints.
“If Facebook had only stopped the spread of hate and moderated the posts properly, my father would still be alive,” said Abrham Meareg, who is of Tigrayan ethnicity and an academic like his father.
“I am suing Facebook so that no one will suffer like my family again. I am seeking justice for the millions of my fellow Africans hurt by Facebook’s profit – and an apology for the murder of my father.”
The case calls for the creation of a 200 billion Kenyan shillings (£1.3 billion) compensation fund for victims of hate and violence on Facebook.
In February, an analysis by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and the Observer found that Facebook was allowing users to post content that incited violence through hate and misinformation, despite knowing that this directly helped fuel tensions. in Tigray, where thousands have died and millions have been displaced since the outbreak of war in late 2020.
The research found that a post by a local influencer, asking people to “clear” the area of Tigrayan forces supporters, remained live for four months after being reported to the company. The family of Gebremichael Teweldemedhin, a Tigrayan jeweler kidnapped last December, believe that the courier and others like it resulted in many attacks on Tigrayans in Gondar, a town in the Amhara region.
Amnesty International is one of seven organizations supporting the process. “The spread of dangerous content on Facebook is at the heart of Meta’s drive to profit, as its systems are designed to keep people engaged,” said Amnesty’s Deputy Regional Director Flavia Mwangovya. “This legal action is a significant step towards holding Meta accountable for its harmful business model.”
One of Amnesty’s own employees, Fisseha Tekle, is a petitioner in the case. “In Ethiopia, people rely on social media for news and information,” he said. “Because of the hate and misinformation on Facebook, human rights defenders have also become targets of threats and vitriol. I have seen firsthand how the dynamic on Facebook has undermined my own human rights work and I hope this case will redress the imbalance.”
Facebook spokesman Ben Walters told The Associated Press that the company could not comment on the lawsuit because it has not received it. He shared a blanket statement saying, “We have strict rules that describe what is and isn’t allowed on Facebook and Instagram. Hate speech and incitement to violence are against these rules and we invest heavily in teams and technology to help us find and remove this content.” Facebook continues to develop its capabilities to detect infringing content in the most widely spoken languages in Ethiopia, the statement said.
Facebook has repeatedly been criticized for expanding into countries with low media literacy, growing rapidly to encompass a large fraction of the area’s internet traffic, and for not devoting enough resources to moderation in local languages. That describes its role in Myanmar, where the site is facing damages claims worth more than £150 billion after legal action was launched in the UK and US last December.
Facebook admitted in 2018 that it had not done enough to stop incitement to violence and hate speech against the Rohingya, Myanmar’s Muslim minority. An independent report commissioned by the company found that “Facebook has become a medium for those seeking to spread hate and cause harm, and posts have been linked to offline violence.” The company was also criticized by the UN for its “leading role” in the possible genocide.