Facebook accused of inciting violence against Muslims in Sri Lanka
Occurred: February 2018 -
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Violence against Muslims in Sri Lanka was fueled at least in part by Facebook's inadequate monitoring and removal of anti-Muslim hate speech, according to rights advocates.
Fueled by misinformation spread on social media, including a viral video falsely alleging that a Muslim restaurateur had poisoned Sinhala-Buddhist customers, riots started in Ampara, Sri Lanka, and quickly spread.ย
At least three people were killed and many businesses and mosques were destroyed in the violence that ensued. In addition, the riots negatively impacted Sri Lanka's economy, with many tourists cancelling visits to the heavily tourist-dependent country.
The Sri Lankan government responded by temporarily banning Facebook and other social media platforms to prevent further violence.
Facebook's failure to act on numerous warnings about hate speech and its inadequate response to the situation drew widespread criticism. The company admitted that its platform had been misused and recognised the human rights impacts resulting from its inaction.ย
Following the incident, Facebook committed to improving its content moderation practices, including hiring local language moderators and enhancing technology to detect hate speech.
The controversy surrounding Facebook's role in the riots highlighted the broader issue of social media's impact on communal tensions and violence, particularly against vulnerable groups.
โ May 2020. Facebook apologised for its role in the anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka in 2018 after an investigation by human rights advisors Article One concluded the social media company had helped instigate the violence.
Hate speech
Hate speech is a term with varied meaning and has no single, consistent definition. It is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation".
Source: Wikipedia ๐
System ๐ค
Facebook content moderation system
Documents ๐
Facebook. Sri Lanka Human Rights Impact Assessment (pdf)
Operator: Facebook users
Developer: Facebook
Country: Sri Lanka
Sector: Religion; Politics
Purpose: Moderate content
Technology: Content moderation system
Issue: Accountability; Accuracy/reliability; Bias/discrimination; Human/civil rights; Mis/disinformation; Safety
Research, advocacy ๐งฎ
Muslim Advocates. Complicit - The human cost of Facebook's disregard for human life (pdf)
Investigations, assessments, audits ๐๏ธ
Page info
Type: Incident
Published: September 2024