5/27/22, 2:20 AM
How activists are using Facebook in Myanmar for democratic ends, but Facebook itself also facilitated hate speech | LSE So…
Figure 2: Commemorations in Yangon. Photo by Zinko Hein on Unsplash
The dangers of digital solutionism
Critics of Facebook’s role as a platform for hate speech against Muslim minorities in
Myanmar rightly point to a range of practical steps that ought to be taken. For example, if
Myanmar returns to a democratic form of government in the future then a stronger legal
framework around social media use would be important. Strengthening Facebook’s
Burmese content regulation would also be crucial, through improved Burmese natural
language processing and higher numbers of human analysts to monitor and remove
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