Facebook is failing to sufficiently address violence and hate speech against Muslim minorities and enforce anti-bigotry policies across its platform, 15 US senators said in a letter addressed to the company CEO, Mark Zuckerberg on Monday.
“Facebook is a groundbreaking company that has revolutionised the way we communicate. Unfortunately, the connectivity that can bring people together in many positive ways also has been used to dehumanise and stoke violence against Muslims, Black people, Latinos, immigrants, the Jewish community, Sikhs, Christians, women, and other communities here and across the world,” the letter, led by US Senator Chris Coons, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said.
“As members of Congress who are deeply disturbed by the proliferation of this hate speech on your platform, we urge you to do more.”
The senators pointed to areas of particular concern, including the targeting of mosques and Muslim community events by armed protesters through the platform and called on Facebook to take more robust action.
It also cited an independent civil rights audit of the company from July 2020 which highlighted disturbing examples of anti-Muslim abuse on the platform ranging, “from the organisation of events designed to intimidate members of the Muslim community at gathering places, to the prevalence of content demonising Islam and Muslims, and the use of Facebook Live during the Christchurch massacre.”
The letter also mentioned a recent United Nations report that concluded the company played a “determining” role in violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, pointing out that Facebook has acknowledged the platform was used to “foment division and incite offline violence.”
The letter acknowledged that Facebook has announced efforts to address its role in the spread of hate across the platform, but said that further action is needed to implement these steps. This includes collecting and publishing data to convey the scope of the problem and implementing a plan to ensure robust enforcement of its call to arms policy, the senators said. (The National)
