Facebook Complicit in Domestic and Global Hatemongering and Crimes Against Humanity
October 7th, 2021
A Facebook whistleblower revealed that the social media company exploits hate speech to exponentially raise profit by using any means necessary, including facilitating and being complicit in global human rights abuses.
“Facebook has realized that if they change the algorithm to be safer, people will spend less time on the site, they'll click on less ads, they'll make less money,” revealed Facebook’s former employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen.
Justice For All Canada commends Frances Haugen for her remarkable courage in exposing Facebook’s complicity in the exponential rise of online hate speech.
Her statement is a testimony of how Facebook’s policies are responsible for the astonishing rise in racism, Islamophobia, and anti-immigrant propaganda affecting vulnerable communities across the globe. In 2017, thousands of Rohingya Muslims were massacred during a genocide perpetrated by Burma’s military and Buddhist extremists, who used social media to stoke tensions between Buddhists and Muslims, orchestrating a sophisticated anti-Muslim Facebook campaign before the genocide. In a 2018 report, Facebook admitted that it failed to prevent its platform’s use to “foment division and incite offline violence.”
Adding to this, a 2020 Wall Street Journal report, based on interviews with current and former Facebook employees, reported that Facebook employees had determined that several posts by BJP Leader T. Raja Singh violated the company's hate speech rules, qualifying as dangerous. But the firm's top public policy executive in India, Ankhi Das, opposed applying "hate speech rules to BJP leader Singh and at least three other Hindu nationalist individuals and groups flagged internally for promoting or participating in the violence".
Das, the paper said, told employees that "punishing violations by politicians from Mr. Modi's party would damage the company's business prospects in the country".
In September 2020, the Delhi Assembly’s peace and harmony committee stated it had prima facie found that Facebook was complicit in aggravating an anti-Muslim pogrom that took place in north-east Delhi in February, leaving 53 dead and over 400 injured.
Even today, Facebook has failed to remove pages of Hindutva extremists such as Yati Narsinghanand, followed by thousands of people on Facebook, live streaming their hate speeches provoking violence against Indian Muslims.
A complaint that Facebook whistleblower Haugen filed included internal company documents citing “fear-mongering” content promoted by “Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) users, groups and pages”. The RSS is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary organization that promotes Islamophobia and violence against minorities.
According to a survey conducted by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, 78% of Canadians are concerned about the spread of hate speech online and 80% support requiring social media companies to remove racist or hateful content within 24 hours of it being identified.
“Looking at the evidence, we’re more certain that online hate speech is extremely dangerous and potentially leads to genocide, persecution, and hate crimes against various religious-ethnic communities,” said Executive Director of Justice For All Canada, Taha Ghayyur. “We call on the Canadian government to reinforce strict regulations and demand accountability from Facebook for failure to comply with Canada’s online hate speech legislation.”
A Facebook whistleblower revealed that the social media company exploits hate speech to exponentially raise profit by using any means necessary, including facilitating and being complicit in global human rights abuses.
“Facebook has realized that if they change the algorithm to be safer, people will spend less time on the site, they'll click on less ads, they'll make less money,” revealed Facebook’s former employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen.
Justice For All Canada commends Frances Haugen for her remarkable courage in exposing Facebook’s complicity in the exponential rise of online hate speech.
Her statement is a testimony of how Facebook’s policies are responsible for the astonishing rise in racism, Islamophobia, and anti-immigrant propaganda affecting vulnerable communities across the globe. In 2017, thousands of Rohingya Muslims were massacred during a genocide perpetrated by Burma’s military and Buddhist extremists, who used social media to stoke tensions between Buddhists and Muslims, orchestrating a sophisticated anti-Muslim Facebook campaign before the genocide. In a 2018 report, Facebook admitted that it failed to prevent its platform’s use to “foment division and incite offline violence.”
Adding to this, a 2020 Wall Street Journal report, based on interviews with current and former Facebook employees, reported that Facebook employees had determined that several posts by BJP Leader T. Raja Singh violated the company's hate speech rules, qualifying as dangerous. But the firm's top public policy executive in India, Ankhi Das, opposed applying "hate speech rules to BJP leader Singh and at least three other Hindu nationalist individuals and groups flagged internally for promoting or participating in the violence".
Das, the paper said, told employees that "punishing violations by politicians from Mr. Modi's party would damage the company's business prospects in the country".
In September 2020, the Delhi Assembly’s peace and harmony committee stated it had prima facie found that Facebook was complicit in aggravating an anti-Muslim pogrom that took place in north-east Delhi in February, leaving 53 dead and over 400 injured.
Even today, Facebook has failed to remove pages of Hindutva extremists such as Yati Narsinghanand, followed by thousands of people on Facebook, live streaming their hate speeches provoking violence against Indian Muslims.
A complaint that Facebook whistleblower Haugen filed included internal company documents citing “fear-mongering” content promoted by “Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) users, groups and pages”. The RSS is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary organization that promotes Islamophobia and violence against minorities.
According to a survey conducted by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, 78% of Canadians are concerned about the spread of hate speech online and 80% support requiring social media companies to remove racist or hateful content within 24 hours of it being identified.
“Looking at the evidence, we’re more certain that online hate speech is extremely dangerous and potentially leads to genocide, persecution, and hate crimes against various religious-ethnic communities,” said Executive Director of Justice For All Canada, Taha Ghayyur. “We call on the Canadian government to reinforce strict regulations and demand accountability from Facebook for failure to comply with Canada’s online hate speech legislation.”