A New Lawsuit Accuses Meta of Inflaming Civil War in Ethiopia
WiredNov 26, 2022
The Facts
A group of researchers and activists have filed a lawsuit against Facebook's parent company, Meta Platforms Inc., in Kenya’s high court. The group accuses the company of amplifying hate speech and inciting violence in Ethiopia on the platform — they are also calling for about $2B in restitution.
The lawsuit contends that Facebook's recommendation systems amplified violent posts in Ethiopia — which has been in a state of civil war since November 2022 — including several that preceded the murder of the father of Meareg Amare Abrha, one of the researchers who brought the case.
The Spin
Establishment-critical narrative
Meta, yet again, has blood on its hands — its lack of content moderation or sensible policy has led to the death of Meareg Amare Abrha and possibly many others. This is what happens when large Western companies fail to even attempt to understand the complexities of social conflict outside of their regions. The level of negligence Meta has shown in this case should be considered criminal, as its inability to stop the spread of violent rhetoric has directly led to increased violence and death.
Pro-establishment narrative
Though Meta certainly has work to do regarding content moderation, this is a new frontier in human history and it will take time to refine a new system. Facebook flagged Ethiopia as being at “dire” risk of violence in 2021 and put its most effective resources towards fighting hate speech and violent rhetoric. Unfortunately, Ethiopian users didn't engage with hate speech in the same way users from other regions did, so Meta had to think on the fly to adjust to this difference.
