from a portal, reflecting the reliance of Facebook’s business model on a more closed platform.”59 Amnesty International concluded that Free Basics appears to be an onramp for increasing mining data in the Global South.60 Facebook ended the launch of Free Basics in September 2017,61 just after the operations had occurred and when the vast majority of Rohingya had already been displaced to Bangladesh, and the hate speech and incitement had already been disseminated throughout Myanmar. At the same time that Facebook was increasing the number of users, and mining their data, it was actively hosting paid advertisements from the Tatmadaw, the direct perpetrators of the operations. Facebook hosted Tatmadaw- linked pages on its platform from at least before July 201762 to as late as August 201863 and Tatmadaw-linked commercial advertising, as late as February 2021.64 Moreover, the negative impacts of the hate-speech were further exacerbated by the algorithmic systems employed by Facebook. In relation to the use of algorithms, a recent Amnesty report found: “[T]he use of algorithms to curate social media content and encourage people to remain on the platform can result in Google and Facebook actively promoting or amplifying abusive, discriminatory or hateful content. The platforms recommend and promote new content based on opaque algorithmic processes to determine what will best engage users. Because people are more likely to click on sensationalist or incendiary material, the so-called ‘recommendation engines’ of these platforms can send their users down what some have called a ‘rabbit hole’ of toxic content.”65 2019, p 13, viewed 30 June 2021, <https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/document/?indexNumber=pol30%2F1404%2F2019&language=en>. [accessed 28 May 2021] 59 Ibid., p 91. 60 Amnesty International Report, Surveillance Giants: How the Business Model of Google and Facebook Threatens Human Rights, 21 November 2019, p 13, viewed 30 June 2021, p 13. 61 Taylor Hatmaker, ‘Facebook’s Free Basics program ended quietly in Myanmar quietly last year’, Tech Crunch, 02 May 2018, viewed 30 June 2018 <https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/01/facebook-free-basics-endingmyanmar-internet org/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFC _dhG9oOI_bziSL0CZkfouMWoeaWtFaGh5DfCY4y_yapcoq-M6wrcyvB60yiuMxBZ_9DTZ1aUmrUUkILSIvoTf9onxTkg0bxDnuFOVn4lmMg_SFnRo9oNb2Q4kJ23AEEiAUMTX1H235QQbdA45FIXK1jSty2ba53WqyQyZPq>. [accessed 30 Jun 2018] 62 Reuters, ‘Myanmar army Facebook posts covering key period of offensive ‘hidden’’, The Irrawaddy, 27 September 2017, <https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-army-facebook-posts-covering-keyperiod-offensive-hidden.html>. [accessed 25 May 2021] 63 Hadas Gold, ‘Facebook bans Myanmar military chief and says it was ‘to slow’ to act', CNN, 27 August 2018, <https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/27/technology/myanmar-army-facebook/index.html>. [accessed 25 May 2021] 64 Reuters staff, ‘Facebook takes down main page of Myanmar military’, Reuters, 21 February 2021, viewed 27 May 2021, <https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-politics-facebook-idUSKBN2AL029>; Rahul Sachitanand, ‘Facebook bans Myanmar military and ads from military-linked companies’, Campaign Asia, 25 February 2021, <https://www.campaignasia.com/article/facebook-bans-myanmar-military-and-ads-frommilitary-linked-companies/467977> [accessed 27 May 2021] 65 Amnesty International Report, Surveillance Giants: How the Business Model of Google and Facebook Threatens Human Rights, 21 November 2019, p 13, viewed 30 June 2021, p 34. 14