Facebook approved ads containing hate speech and incitements to violence against the Rohingya, according to human rights organisation Global Witness.

Global Witness submitted eight explicit adverts with real examples of Burmese language hate speech against Rohingya, all of which fell under Facebook's criteria for hate speech, and Facebook approved all of them. 

The ads included violent speech calling for the killing of the Rohingya, dehumanising speech comparing the Rohingya to animals, and calls for exclusion or segregation, claiming the Rohingya are not Myanmar citizens and the country needs to protect itself against a "Muslim invasion".

The ads were deleted by Global Witness before they could be published, once Facebook had granted approval. It said it shared the findings with Facebook to allow the company to comment, but did not get a response.

Most of the ads would have breached international law prohibiting the incitement of racial discrimination and violence had they been published. 

The investigation added to evidence that Facebook's systems remain unable to adequately detect and remove hate speech inciting violence against the Rohingya, despite the company's commitments to improve its Burmese language content moderation several years previously.

The company admitted in 2018 that it played a role in inciting violence during the genocidal campaign against the Rohingya in 2017.