5. META AND ADVOCACY OF HATRED AGAINST THE ROHINGYA “I started seeing different things on Facebook, some things related to Rohingya people… The writing was in Burmese – it said, ‘there is no Rohingya [race] in Myanmar’. I was seeing this post from many people. I thought, what is happening to these people? Why are they posting against us? Why are they against Rohingya people? I started seeing more and more – about ‘Bengali’ people, that we are not from Myanmar. It said, “if they stay here, we will be under their control”. A lot of hate speech, a lot of false news” Sawyeddollah, 21, Rohingya activist and survivor106 5.1 THE RISE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN SPREADING ANTIROHINGYA SENTIMENT This section outlines the rising role of social media in relation to the spread of harmful content, including advocacy of hatred, against the Rohingya from 2012 to 2017. The Facebook platform played an increasingly prominent role in the rise in anti-Muslim and anti-Rohingya sentiment in Myanmar from 2012 onwards. Serious inter-communal violence was sparked in Rakhine State in 2012 following the alleged rape and murder of a 27-year-old Buddhist woman on 28 May 2012, allegedly perpetrated by three Muslim men. Protests and mob violence erupted, and on 3 June, a Yangon-bound bus was stopped by a crowd of some 300 people in Toungup township, and ten Muslim passengers were taken off and beaten to death.107 In a June 2012 report on the violence, the International Crisis Group, a nongovernmental organization, noted the prevalence of “disturbing views posted widely online” and cited “inflammatory rhetoric online” as a possible factor driving the violence, but ultimately concluded that “very low levels of Internet penetration” made it unlikely to be a decisive factor.108 106 Amnesty International interview by video call with Maung Sawyeddollah, 6 April 2022. International Crisis Group (ICG), Myanmar Conflict Alert: Preventing communal bloodshed and building better relations, 12 June 2012, available at: refworld.org/docid/4fd85cdd2.html [accessed 29 April 2022]. 107 International Crisis Group (ICG), Myanmar Conflict Alert: Preventing communal bloodshed and building better relations, 12 June 2012, available at: refworld.org/docid/4fd85cdd2.html [accessed 29 April 2022]. 108 THE SOCIAL ATROCITY META AND THE RIGHT TO REMEDY FOR THE ROHINGYA Amnesty International 26