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Rohingya are suing Facebook for hate speech

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Rohingya are suing Facebook for hate speech

Incitement on platforms: Members of the Muslim Rohingya minority have sued Facebook for around 133 billion euros in damages.

Photo: dpa

The Muslim minority from Myanmar accuses Facebook of not doing enough against hatred and calls to violence on its platform. Now relatives are demanding compensation.


London San Francisco. Members of the Muslim Rohingya minority from Myanmar have sued the social media giant Facebook for agitation on its platform for 150 billion US dollars (around 133 billion euros) in damages and other payments.

The group, which has since been renamed Meta, initially did not comment on the lawsuits. The German press agency asked for a statement on Tuesday morning.

According to a complaint filed by the US law firm Edelson, the company is accused of not doing enough to counter hatred and calls for violence on its platform against Rohingya in Myanmar. Algorithms are said to have given the dangerous content an even greater reach.

Important role of Facebook

Facebook played an important role in the country in giving people access to the Internet in the first place. Because of this, too, the company had a special responsibility, so the allegation. The lawsuit relies on the laws of the Southeast Asian country because Facebook is largely protected under US law from taking responsibility for the content of its users.

The Rohingya are brutally persecuted in their home country, Myanmar. Hundreds of thousands of them fled to neighboring Bangladesh in 2017 for fear of military attacks in the predominantly Buddhist country. There they now live in overcrowded camps. The United Nations has classified their persecution as ongoing genocide.

A lawsuit is also to be filed in Great Britain. The law firm Mischon de Reya announced that Facebook was informed of the intention to file a lawsuit. While the US lawsuit is only being brought in the name of the Rohingya living there, all Rohingya outside the USA are to be represented in the planned British lawsuit.

Facebook had already admitted in 2018 that there was “more to do” in Myanmar after an independent investigation confirmed that the platform had been used in part for smear campaigns.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 211207-99-288402 / 5



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