The Sri Lankan government and civil society groups say that Facebook has failed for years to monitor and remove accounts inciting ethnic violence in Sri Lanka
DIGANA, Sri Lanka — When the Sri Lankan government temporarily blocked access to Facebook last month amid a wave of violence against Muslims … Tweets: @profgalloway , @miqdaad , @rmac18 , @francis_wade , @meghara , @buzzfeedben , @fabiochiusi , @markscott82 , and @rmac18 See also Mediagazer Tweets: Scott Galloway / @profgalloway : Facebook was warned repeatedly since 2013 about how it was used to spread racist hate speech and organize violence. Facebook did next to nothing, months later. The Sri Lankan government blocked Facebook. http://www.buzzfeed.com/... Miqdaad Versi / @miqdaad : Extremists in Sri Lanka used Facebook to organize deadly violence against Muslims. Facebook did nothing so “We Had To Stop Facebook” as a last resort http://www.buzzfeed.com/... Ryan Mac / @rmac18 : Researchers had warned Facebook since 2013 about how the platform had been used to spread racist hate speech. Facebook did very little. Violence ensued. http://www.buzzfeed.com/... Francis Wade / @francis_wade : More on Facebook's use as a tool to prime people for ethno-religious violence, this time in Sri Lanka where warnings issued four years ago were not acted upon. Deep reporting by @meghara http://www.buzzfeed.com/... Megha Rajagopalan / @meghara : In Sri Lanka, the government, researchers & local NGOs spent years trying to warn Facebook that extremists were using the platform to incite violence against minorities. Facebook didn't listen. Then last month, anti-Muslim violence broke out. My latest. http://www.buzzfeed.com/... Ben Smith / @buzzfeedben : A big and deeply reporter story from @meghara on how Sri Lankan officials begged Facebook for years to monitor calls for ethnic violence http://www.buzzfeed.com/... Fabio Chiusi / @fabiochiusi : Very good article, showing how difficult it is to enforce anti-hate speech policies when haters get smart, and the platform is not. We're at a point in which even a shutdown appears to make (some) sense. And that is wrong. http://www.buzzfeed.com/... via @meghara Mark Scott / @markscott82 : Critics say @Facebook has responded slowly to complaints in US & Europe. But in small markets like Sri Lanka, its response to violence & hate speech on the social network has been deafeningly quiet. Worth a read by @meghara http://www.buzzfeed.com/... Ryan Mac / @rmac18 : A must-read from @meghara with what's been reported lately from “The Ugly” memo to Zuckerberg claiming that the company's “systems” had caught bad actors in the spread of hate speech in Myanmar (which is now being disputed). Connecting the world has consequences. http://twitter.com/... See also Mediagazer