BSR | Human Rights Impact Assessment: Facebook in Myanmar
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example, we spoke with stakeholders asking about the analysis of IP addresses to tackle fake
accounts, or “mapping on which messages are reaching who” to tackle hate speech and
misinformation. However, there is also skepticism at the ability of machines to “cope with” the Burmese
script or fully learn the local context, given the limited volume of Burmese-to-English translation that
can be utilized in machine learning. As one interviewee questioned, “Artificial intelligence may have a
hard time coping with our lack of sentence structure and the lack of data to support machine learning
in Burmese.” BSR notes Facebook’s investment in AI underway at the time of writing and the fact that
the effectiveness of AI should increase considerably over time with more experience, data, and use
cases. Facebook is aware of the questions raised by stakeholders about the effectiveness of AI, and is
seeking to address them. Facebook also views the primary role of AI to be about surfacing content for
human review and does not see AI as a panacea for Community Standards enforcement. However,
today’s skepticism among stakeholders about the potential for AI to assist with Community Standards
enforcement in Myanmar stands in contrast to its potential, reinforcing the points we make below about
the importance of engagement, trust, and transparency.
5.3 ENGAGEMENT, TRUST, AND TRANSPARENCY
The complex human rights challenges confronting Facebook in Myanmar are widely understood by
stakeholders. In this context, engagement, trust, and transparency are often seen as core responsibilities
for Facebook when navigating these challenges.
» There is significant appetite for local-level transparency from Facebook on Community
Standards enforcement and government relationships.
Facebook’s recent Community Standards Enforcement Report describes processes and contains
global content-removal metrics in areas such as spam, hate speech, fake accounts, and terrorist
propaganda. Stakeholders in Myanmar have an appetite for a Myanmar-specific version of this report
that discloses the same metrics for Myanmar and describes elements of local process, such as the
nature of government relationships, how certain standards are interpreted locally, and whether the
government submits content-removal requests through the Community Standards process, rather than
via law enforcement relationship channels.
» Continuing to build trust with local stakeholders will require ongoing engagement and
responsiveness.
Facebook faces a significant trust deficit in Myanmar because of actual or perceived lack of sufficient
action in response to a rise in hate speech and the increasingly sophisticated propaganda campaigns
waged by a network of bad actors against civil society activists and human rights defenders. We heard
comments that questioned Facebook’s motivation, such as “Facebook is more interested in repairing
its reputation on Capitol Hill than finding solutions in Myanmar” and “After four years of calls for action,
Facebook only started to take real action after the letter [from civil society organizations] received
attention.” One stakeholder feared that “Facebook will collaborate with the proposed social media
monitoring team as an act of corporate social responsibility”—though we note Facebook’s strong
refutation of this possibility during this assessment. However, BSR also noted a significant
determination on the part of both stakeholders and Facebook to improve trust and increase the
effectiveness of collaboration. Facebook now has a window of opportunity to restore trust through
proactive and responsive engagement with local stakeholders, increased transparency, doubling down
on existing efforts, and pursuing the recommendations in this HRIA. It is important to recognize the