Suing Facebook for compensation for violence at Irish court
The Business Post newspaper, based in Ireland, has reported that Meta, the company that controls Facebook, is facing at least 17 lawsuits from Rohingya refugees, alleging that Facebook, a popular social network in Myanmar, played a supporting role in the Myanmar army's cleansing of the Rohingya in 2017. The 17 cases were filed in the Supreme Court of Ireland on August 23 by Dublin-based law firms KOD Lyons and Abby Law.
They decided to file a lawsuit in Ireland because Ireland is the country where Meta's headquarters are located, as well as the department responsible for Facebook's content censoring section and it is located in Dublin. According to a statement released by Amnesty International on August 25, Meta company ran the Facebook social network with algorithms focused on making profits, which further spread the hatred already existing against the Rohingya, to become the drove terrorist attacks, and in the end, the Rohingyas had to flee Myanmar.
U Tun Khin, chairman of the UK-based Burmese-Rohingya Association, said that Facebook was responsible for spreading hatred and propaganda against the Rohingya when the Myanmar military conducted a campaign to clear the Rohingya in 2017. Ko Khin Maung from the Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh also said that he believes that justice will be achieved by prosecuting Facebook, which is responsible for participating in the killing of the Rohingya. U Tun Khin requested that in order to get justice for the Rohingya, Facebook, and the Meta company need to expand the use of experts with a good understanding of Myanmar to monitor vulnerable content, and support should be given to improve education, living conditions and health for Rohingya refugees living in poverty in Bangladesh.
The European Union's Digital Services Act came into force on the 6th anniversary of the Rohingya genocide. According to this law, Meta, Google, and Tech companies like TikTok will be responsible for more stringent screening of content posted by users. After the European Union (EU) has tightened the DSA law and scrutinized the responsibility of social network technology companies. Experts from Amnesty International believe that Ireland, which is an EU member country, may face the most legal confrontations. The European Union's DSA law is a historic law that strengthens rights and responsibilities in the digital age. Due to this law, all EU countries, including Ireland, where powerful technology companies are based, will be responsible for effectively protecting human rights violations caused by technology companies.
In a statement released on August 25, Pat de Brun, Amnesty International's head of technical accountability, said that the consequences of this law will have an impact beyond EU countries.
Reportedly, in August 2020, Facebook's spokesperson said that they are against hate and violence, and they are cooperating with investigative organizations and Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) established by the United Nations to take action on international crimes.
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