Amnesty International says Facebook’s algorithm significantly contributed to ‘ethnic cleansing’

In a new report Amnesty International accuses Facebook of playing a significant role in the genocide of the Rohingya people of Myanmar.

The human rights organization says that Facebook’s algorithm “proactively amplified and promoted content on the Facebook platform which incited violence, hatred, and discrimination against the Rohingya.” They continued to explain that Facebook’s made a profit from pushing the spread of hate speech and violence against Myanmar’s Muslim minority because the engagement increased their profits. 

This is not the first time Facebook has been investigated for human rights violations. Back in 2018, the UN warned the tech giant of their contribution in the ethnic violence taking place in Myanmar and Facebook even admitted to being slow at stopping and preventing the spread of misinformation. 

So far, Meta has avoided all calls to pay reparations to the Rohingya people, but Amnesty International is still pushing the matter and pushing for lawmakers to regulate tech companies’ algorithms