Case 1:20-mc-00036-JEB-ZMF Document 22 Filed 09/22/21 Page 25 of 32
(referencing Facebook’s de-platforming post). The Gambia is not asking, nor is the Court
ordering, Facebook to conduct further searches for coordinated inauthentic behavior related to the
Rohingya genocide. Thus, the traditional discovery burden of searching for content does not
manifest here. In fact, Facebook has already produced some records. See id. at 38–42.
The Gambia scoped its request to only seek content “relevant to the ICJ case,” that is
documents related to “hate speech and [the] incitement to violence on Facebook.” Id. at 11, 46.
In so doing, The Gambia focused its request on only the most relevant documents. Facebook
argues that it is unduly burdensome to review its documents for a specific content. See id. at 101.
Facebook’s de-platforming process did not include a forensic review of all account and page data.
See id. at 106–07. And Facebook says it would be challenging to search for specific content now,
particularly due to translation issues. See id. at 103–04. However, such review should present
minimal difficulties as Facebook has publicly touted the strength of its Myanmar language team
and its content-review capabilities. See e.g., Rafael Frankel, An Update on the Situation in
Facebook
Myanmar,
(Feb.
11,
2021),
https://about.fb.com/news/2021/02/an-update-on-
myanmar/. Moreover, Facebook would seemingly know a thing-or-two about searching its data,
as
that
is
in
part
how
it
generates
revenue.
See
Data
Policy,
Facebook,
https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy.
The Gambia limited its request to de-platformed content dating back to 2012. See Pet’r’s
Mot. at 14–17. Facebook challenges this as overly broad and counters with a 2016 date range,
Conf. Tr. 46–47; however, this fails for three reasons. First, the 2012 data is highly probative of
the instigation of the genocide.
The U.N. Mission found that Myanmar officials posted
disinformation on Facebook in 2012 that led to violence then and beyond. See U.N. Report at
¶ 696. And concluded that the extreme levels of violence perpetrated against the Rohingya in 2016
25