Rohingya refugees sue social media platform Facebook over violence incidents

Inability of the social media giant Facebook to control the content that goes into it and how it is reflecting on the society is the reason for a major violent breakout in Myanmar as per a new finding by the United States.

After this, the Rohingya refugees from the nation have decided to sue Facebook, which is now known as Meta Platforms Inc, for $150 billion. They accused the platform of failing to take actions against the anti-Rohingya hate speech on the platform which led to violence in the region.

 

Rohingya refugees sue Facebook for $150 billion, alleging it helped perpetuate genocide in Myanmar https://t.co/8WZT6sfI2J

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 7, 2021

The report has been constituted by a US class action committee which complained regarding the damage that Facebook is capable of doing with extreme free flow of content. It filed the complaint on Monday in California against this practice.

 

It asserted that despite being such a huge name globally, the company has been unable to police content on its platform and that has contributed to real-world violence faced by the Rohingya community. After this, even the British lawyers submitted a letter of notice to the London office.

 

The company did not immediately respond to the notice but later on, it reportedly said that it was not complete inability rather it was extremely slow for taking positive steps in this regard. It also stated that since the incident, it has taken necessary steps to crack down abuses on the platform especially in the region.

 

However, the social media giant also asserted that it is under protection by the US internet lawknown as Section 230, which essentially protects them over content posted by the users on the internet. It is not responsible for the content that is posted by a third party on its platform and hence it can defend itself against the claims raised in the complaint.