28-3-2024 (GENEVA) Prior to its violent crackdown on the Rohingya minority in 2017, Myanmar’s military orchestrated a network of Facebook pages disseminating hate speech against the community, a UN investigation revealed on Wednesday.
Accusations have long been directed at Facebook for facilitating the spread of hate speech targeting the Rohingya, a campaign that preceded the expulsion of hundreds of thousands to Bangladesh, now under UN scrutiny for genocide.
In late 2021, Rohingya refugees filed a $150 billion lawsuit against Facebook, alleging its failure to curb hate speech.
Now, the UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) asserts clear evidence of the military’s clandestine orchestration of the hate speech campaign.
According to the investigators, the military systematically spread fear and hatred of the Rohingya by creating a covert network of Facebook pages capable of reaching millions.
Established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2018, the IIMM collected evidence of grave international crimes for potential criminal prosecution.
The recent analysis focused on content posted on 43 Facebook pages between July and December 2017. These seemingly disparate pages, including those unrelated to the military and covering celebrity news, formed an interconnected network termed the “Military Network.”
The report revealed 10,485 instances of hate speech, all removed by Facebook in August 2018. Most of these pages were associated with the military, with some directly linked to individuals and organizations banned for human rights violations.
Additionally, 37 pages, taken down for “inauthentic behaviour,” were found to contain hate speech content, often perpetuating discriminatory narratives against the Rohingya.
The hate speech propagated narratives depicting the Rohingya as existential threats to Myanmar’s racial purity, feeding into widespread discrimination and derogatory beliefs.
Connections between the pages were established through shared creators, administrators, and IP addresses, many linked to the Myanmar military.
The investigators highlighted the synchrony between the hate speech campaign and the violent atrocities inflicted upon the Rohingya, underscoring the military’s role in exacerbating the crisis.
Rather than preventing violence and protecting its people, the Myanmar military actively promoted and justified violence against the Rohingya through social media channels.
