Sen. Pat Leahy Grills Zuckerberg on Hate Speech: U.N. Says Facebook Played a Role in Genocide
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) grilled Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on his platform’s “role as a breeding ground for hate speech” in Myanmar — and went so far as to suggest Facebook has played a role in the country’s genocide.
“Six months ago I asked your general counsel about Facebook’s role as a breeding ground for hate speech against Rohingya refugees,” the Vermont Democrat said. “Recently U.N. investigators blamed Facebook for playing a role inciting possible genocide in Myanmar. And there has been genocide there.”
“This is the kind of content I’m referring to,” Leahy said, as an aide held up a Facebook post from 2016 that described a Muslim journalist as a terrorist and called for him to be killed.
“That threat went straight through your detection systems, it spread very quickly,” Leahy continued. “And then, it took attempt after attempt after attempt, and the involvement of civil society groups, to get you to remove it. Why couldn’t it have been removed in 24 hours?
“Senator, what’s happening in Myanmar is a terrible tragedy,” Zuckerberg responded. “And we need to do more —”
“We all agree with that,” Leahy cut him off.
“But U.N. investigators have blamed you, blamed Facebook, for playing a role in the genocide,” he said. “How can you dedicate, and will you dedicate, the resources to make sure such hate speech is taken down within 24 hours?”
Zuckerberg told Leahy that Facebook is hiring Burmese content reviewers, working to identify specific hate figures to remove their accounts, and setting up a product team to make changes in Myanmar.
Watch above, via Fox News.
[image via screengrab]
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