Case 1:20-mc-00036-JEB-ZMF Document 22 Filed 09/22/21 Page 1 of 32 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA In re Application Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782 of The Republic of the Gambia, Petitioner, v. Civil Action No. 20-mc-36-JEB-ZMF Facebook, Inc., Respondent. ORDER I come to praise Facebook, not to bury it. By Facebook’s own admission it was “too slow to respond to the concerns raised” about its role in the genocide of the Rohingya, an ethnic and religious minority in Myanmar. Steve Stecklow, Why Facebook is losing the war on hate speech in Myanmar, Reuters (Aug. 15, 2018), https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special- report/myanmar-facebook-hate/. In 2018, roughly six years into the genocide, Facebook began deleting accounts and other content from its platform used by Myanmar government agents that sparked the genocide. See Removing Myanmar Military Officials From Facebook, Facebook (Aug. 28, 2018), https://about.fb.com/news/2018/08/removing-myanmar-officials/ (last updated Dec. 18, 2018) (“De-platforming Post”). Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782, The Republic of The Gambia (“The Gambia”) seeks the content Facebook deleted for use in The Gambia’s litigation against the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (“Myanmar”) at the International Court of Justice (“ICJ”). The Gambia seeks these records for “evidence of genocidal intent necessary to support a finding of responsibility for 1