The United Nation’s human rights chief warned Facebook it could be abetting genocide if it doesn’t block hate speech and misinformation in Myanmar, where a Muslim minority faces the possibility of ethnic cleansing.
The dire warning is not the first for the social media giant.
The Daily Caller has more:
The first Muslim head of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein warned the spread of hate speech and misinformation on Facebook could result in the support for genocide of the minority Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, also known as Burma, The Telegraph reported Thursday. He added that Facebook could be considered an accessory to the crimes.
“We felt early on very uncomfortable with what we were seeing in Myanmar, (but) in the early meetings that we had with Facebook, I didn’t think they were taking it seriously,” Zeid Wednesday, who is expected to step down from his position Friday.
“We’ve seen from the jurisprudence of the past that if you’ve enabled, you’ve abetted, you’ve been an accessory,” Zeid added.
While he didn’t accuse Facebook of abetting any crimes, “they have to be sure that they know where they are and what side of the law they are on,” he said.
So far, Facebook banned 18 accounts and 52 pages, including Min Aung Hlaing – the commander-in-chief of the Myanmar Armed Forces.