"Meta faces $1.6bn lawsuit over Facebook posts inciting violence in Tigray war", 14 Dec 2022

Meta has been accused in a lawsuit of letting posts that inflamed the war in Tigray flourish on Facebook, after an Observer investigation in February revealed repeated inaction on posts that incited violence.

The lawsuit, filed in the high court of Kenya, where Meta’s sub-Saharan African operations are based, alleges that Facebook’s recommendations systems amplified hateful and violent posts in the context of the war in northern Ethiopia, which raged for two years until a ceasefire was agreed in early November. The lawsuit seeks the creation of a $1.6bn (£1.3bn) fund for victims of hate speech ...

In February an analysis by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and the Observer found that Facebook was letting users post content inciting violence through hate and misinformation, despite being aware that it helped directly fuel tensions in Tigray, where thousands have died and millions been displaced since war broke out in late 2020 ...

One of Amnesty’s own staffers, Fisseha Tekle, is a petitioner in the case. “In Ethiopia, the people rely on social media for news and information,” he said. “Because of the hate and disinformation on Facebook, human rights defenders have also become targets of threats and vitriol. I saw first hand how the dynamics on Facebook harmed my own human rights work and hope this case will redress the imbalance.” ...

Facebook spokesperson Ben Walters told the Associated Press the company could not comment on the lawsuit because it hadn’t received it. He shared a general statement saying: “We have strict rules which outline what is and isn’t allowed on Facebook and Instagram. Hate speech and incitement to violence are against these rules and we invest heavily in teams and technology to help us find and remove this content.” Facebook continues to develop its capabilities to catch violating content in Ethiopia’s most widely spoken languages, the statement said.