algorithms are created, it would not be possible to “train” them, as Dedan explains. In doing
so, he is in many ways helping the algorithms to do their job better and more precisely, even
though Dedan´s technique does not include the knowledge of how the algorithms include
information from the network surrounding him. Incorporated in that balance is the second
level, the national political context, norms, and understanding, which produce the given
frames to perform within. What is shown in the feed is then “the perfect combination” of
content adjusted to a person’s preferences and given frames to create a “happy place.” This
means that in the end, you can end up with only one specific side of a narrative being
represented in the feed.
This is something Facebook has been criticized for, and that has created debates on an
international level. At this point, it is not hard to imagine how the echo chamber comes into
play. When the awareness is towards just one side of a narrative, it is likely to affect opinions
and understanding of a situation, as has happened in Myanmar. Arkar, the teacher (see chapter
5.), told me that if he were a politician, he would, without doubt, use Facebook. He told me
that:
“you see many Facebook walls or social media walls as campaign, you know, ‘now I want to
share my knowledge with someone’, that´s how it is… …Facebook is very important to
politics and education”.
Why is Facebook Losing the War Against Hate Speech?
Facebook has become a tool to spread opinions, information, and propaganda. It is a place
where used correctly, it is easy to spread one narrative. Also, this is what Arkar points
towards with his statement; Facebook is an echo chamber where the narrative can flourish,
and even produce more narratives of the same character.
In the Myanmar context, Facebook has received harsh critique regarding the way the
company handled the crisis of the Rohingya with an extreme amount of hate speech
flourishing in their platform. In August 2018 Reuters wrote an article titled “Why Facebook is
losing the war against hate speech in Myanmar” (Stecklow, 2018b), explicitly pointing out the
weakness and loss of action from the company towards a solution. The Human Rights
Council did an independent fact-finding mission on Myanmar in September 2018 and
concluded that hate narratives are common and that Facebook “fosters a climate in which hate
speech thrives, human rights violations are legitimized and, incitement to discrimination and
violence facilitated” (2018, p. 14). These reports are all referring to the Rohingya crises which
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