Digital researcher and analyst Raymond Serrato examined about 15,000 Facebook posts from supporters of the hardline nationalist Ma Ba Tha group. “Facebook definitely helped certain elements of society to determine the narrative of the conflict in Myanmar,” Serrato told the Guardian. “Although Facebook had been used in the past to spread hate speech and misinformation, it took on greater potency after the attacks.”The revelations come to light as Facebook is struggling to respond to criticism over the leaking of users’ private data and concern about the spread of fake news and hate speech on the platform. A Facebook spokeswoman said the company was ramping up efforts to remove hate content and people who repeatedly violate the company’s hate-speech policies. An analysis of 63,842 Facebook posts by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne, an author and data researcher, concluded the social media ban took fewer than half the country’s Facebook users offline, many likely turning to a VPN to access the service.

Source: The Guardian April 03, 2018 00:07 UTC