Facebook Creates 'Safety Page' For Myanmar

By Roy Sotelo, Christian Post Contributor Thursday, March 15, 2018

The United Nations (U.N.) have said that the use of Facebook possibly played a role in spreading hate speech in Myanmar.

Marzuki Darusman, chairman of the U.N. Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, said that social media had played a "determining role" in Myanmar, per a report by Reuters.

Darusman added that Facebook, being a social media platform, was also a part of the problem of hate speech.

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"We know that the ultra-nationalist Buddhists have their own Facebooks and are really inciting a lot of violence and a lot of hatred against the Rohingya or other ethnic minorities," Yanghee Lee said, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, told BBC News.

"I'm afraid that Facebook has now turned into a beast, and not what it originally intended," Lee added.

Facebook had not immediately responded to the criticism on Monday, but the company has previously said that they were on the process of removing hate speech in Myanmar and removing people who constantly shared offensive content regarding the issue.

More than 650,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since Myanmar's security forces began clearance operations against them in the Rakhine state last August. Until now, Myanmar is still effectively controlled by the military, and Facebook is very prevalent in the country.

According to Quartz Media, Facebook is the main source of information for the locals in Myanmar. This has led ultra-nationalists to use the platform to spread hatred against the Rohingyas.

"We take this incredibly seriously and have worked with experts in Myanmar for several years to develop safety resources and counter-speech campaigns," a Facebook spokeswoman told the BBC.

Facebook has since created a "Safety Page for Myanmar" wherein rules and community standards of the platform are available in free downloadable PDF format. The page also has PDF files against bullying, harassment, hate speech, violence, and threats.

Meanwhile, the social media network giant has also acknowledged that there was more they could do to keep the community safe.