Two individuals who identify as Rohingya and currently reside in India have submitted a legal petition, known as a public interest litigation, to the Delhi High Court. Their aim is to request the court’s assistance in preventing the spread of hateful and discriminatory content towards the Rohingya community on Facebook. According to fellow community members, social media users in India have labeled them with negative terms such as “terrorists,” “jihadists,” and “illegal immigrants,” and have even demanded their removal from the country.

Last week, the petition was made public, urging regulators in India to oversee Facebook and eliminate “hate speech and harmful content originating from India that targets the Rohingya community” on its platform.

The petition states that both Facebook’s internal documents and external reports have consistently demonstrated that the spread of false information, fake news, hate speech, and politically divisive material on the platform has led to actual violence in both India and other countries, specifically targeting the Rohingya community.

During the hearing on Tuesday, Colin Gonsalves, who was representing the Rohingya petitioners, stated that the platform’s algorithm created an “ecosystem” that amplified hate speech in order to boost its business.

Gonsalves stated that the platform actively spread harmful content directed towards the Rohingya community. He also noted that hate speech is a form of ongoing propaganda.

Arvind Datar, appearing before the court for Facebook, opposed the petition and asserted the platform already had done a substantial amount of work to prevent its abuse, following consultations with the federal government.

“The posts mentioned in the PIL that caused offense have already been removed by Facebook,” stated Datar.

They are accusing us of spreading hate. This is false.

For many years, the Muslim Rohingya people have been escaping from violence and discrimination in Myanmar, which is largely Buddhist. They have been seeking refuge in nearby countries such as Bangladesh and India.

Despite not being a signatory to the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention, India considers all Rohingya refugees as “illegal immigrants.” However, the community has resided in the country peacefully for many years.

Hindu nationalist threats

After the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gained power in 2014, refugees in India started encountering opposition. In the last six years, several hundred Rohingya have been detained for entering India illegally and some have even been sent back to Myanmar.

In November 2022, the UNHCR released a factsheet stating that over 21,000 Rohingya refugees are currently residing in India.

According to refugees and human rights activists, negative attitudes towards the Rohingya community have greatly increased in Indian society. In recent years, members of the community have been subjected to violent attacks, largely fueled by hateful content and false information spread on social media. These activists also point out that the anti-Rohingya sentiment in India is largely driven by individuals and organizations aligned with Hindu right-wing groups.

Sabber Kaw Min, founder-director of Rohingya Human Rights Initiative and a refugee based in India, expressed concern over the use of social media platforms such as Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) to spread hate and misinformation about the Rohingya community. This has resulted in an escalation of violent threats towards them, and despite their efforts, the Facebook authority has not taken down the hateful content.

In the past, extremist Buddhists and the government in Myanmar launched an anti-Rohingya hate campaign that resulted in a violent military response against the community. This led to over 700,000 Rohingya fleeing the country in 2017. According to Min, there is a concern that a similar social media hate campaign could force them out of India once more.

Activists have noted that some of the fires in Rohingya settlements in India over the past few years were likely motivated by hate.

In 2018, a Rohingya settlement in Delhi was destroyed by a fire. A member of the BJP’s youth division proudly claimed responsibility for the arson in a tweet, stating that they had burned the homes of “Rohingya terrorists.”

The High Court petition by two refugees mentioned 39 posts and comments against the Rohingya community. These posts were written in English, Hindi, and Bengali and originated from India.

Threats of violence

A petition was made for the Indian Army to eliminate all Bangladeshis and Rohingya who are currently residing in India. The petition also mentioned a video where T. Raja Singh, a politician from Modi’s BJP, stated that Rohingya Muslims should be fatally shot.

According to legal professionals and advocates, the petition holds special significance due to the despicable content on Facebook that has fueled hatred not only towards the Rohingya community, but also towards other marginalized groups in the nation.

Delhi-based lawyer Kawalpreet Kaur, representing the Rohingya petitioners, said that the petition was filed “keeping in view the role Facebook has been playing in India promoting divisive content against minorities, especially the Rohingya community.”

According to Kaur, these posts are coming from India and have a high risk of inciting immediate violence.

Our goal is to hold companies like Facebook accountable for their actions and ensure that they do not unfairly enforce their community standards or neglect their duty to protect marginalized communities.

Eva Buzo, the Executive Director of Victim Advocates International in Australia, is backing the legal battle of the Rohingya community against Facebook. She claims that Facebook’s feed ranking and “virality” features contribute to the spread of false information and harmful content, as acknowledged by Facebook itself.

Buzo stated that the petitioners are courageously confronting a dominant American corporation responsible for widespread harm globally. He referenced the harmful material spreading on the internet targeting the Rohingya community prior to the violent events in 2017.

She stated that the petitioners have witnessed the potential of Facebook when it is not regulated.

Buzo stated that this petition is not solely focused on protecting the Rohingya people, but instead requests that Facebook be ordered to stop using certain features that are detrimental to all minority groups.

Source: voanews.com