After pledge to improve, Facebook still struggling with hate speech in Myanmar: report

Facebook is struggling to rein in hate speech and misinformation on its platform in Myanmar, where the military junta and its supporters are still spreading false and violent messages at a rapid rate, The Associated Press reported. 

Facebook pledged to stop the spread of hate speech in the Southeast Asian country in 2018. But after a military takeover of the nation in February, violent and hateful messages have continued to proliferate across the social media platform, according to the AP. 

One post from a military supporter on Oct. 24, threatening violence against opposition groups, collected 56,000 views.

Citing internal documents provided by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen earlier this year, the AP reported that the social media company did step up efforts to curb hate speech, but those tools have largely failed.

“We found significant gaps in our coverage (especially in Myanmar and Ethiopia), showcasing that our current signals may be inadequate,” read an internal audit from this year, per the AP.

After promising to stop the spread of hate speech in 2018, Facebook flagged Myanmar as a “Tier 1” at-risk country and employed tools that detected users who posted from multiple accounts, cut out inflammatory speech and reduced the viral spread of content.

But the military is continuing to work around those safeguards, sometimes posing as media outlets to spread propaganda and using encrypted messaging apps like Telegram to organize misinformation campaigns, according to the Myanmar Social Media Insights Project.

Human rights activists have raised concerns for years about the Myanmar military, which has been accused of genocide for the killings of members of the Muslim Rohingya population. After the military takeover in February, more than 1,000 civilians have been killed.