October 20201 that “Facebook’s products harm children, stoke division, and weaken our democracy”. 210 Amnesty International wrote to Meta in May 2022 to ask when the company first became aware of the risks posed by its ranking and recommendation algorithms, and what actions Meta has taken to address such risks. Meta did not answer this question in its response. 6.2.2 NEWS FEED & RANKING Meta’s News Feed algorithm is central to what content is seen by whom on the Facebook platform. It curates a highly personalized user experience based on invasive profiling enabled by the collection of intimate personal data. It ranks specific types of content – deciding what users see first when they open Facebook. An internal company document dated 9 March 2020 explains how individual users see specific pieces of content based on ranking scores assigned by Meta’s ranking algorithms: “News feed ranking is another way Facebook becomes actively involved in these harmful experiences. Of course users also play an active role in determining what content they are connected to through feed, by choosing who to friends and follow. Still, when and whether a user sees a piece of content is also partly determined by the ranking scores our algorithms assign, which are ultimately under our control.”211 The same document reveals that Meta staff considered the ethical implications of the company’s use of content-shaping algorithms. The document, entitled, ‘Facebook and Responsibility’, stands in contrast to Meta’s public position on its responsibility for promoting content that resulted in offline violence. In a stunning recognition of responsibility, the document states: “Actively ranking content in News Feed and promoting content on recommendations surfaces makes us responsible for any harm caused by exposure to that content” [emphasis added].212 “This means, according to ethicists, Facebook is always at least partially responsible for any harmful experiences on News Feed. This doesn’t owe any flaw with our News Feed ranking system, it’s just inherent to the process of ranking …. Crucially, all of these algorithms produce a single score; a score Facebook assigns. Thus, there is no such thing as inaction on Feed, we can only choose to take different kinds of actions” [emphasis added].213 6.2.3 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR USER BEHAVIOUR AND ACTIONS Meta also deploys its algorithmic technologies to actively promote and recommend certain actions and behaviours to Facebook users. Recommendations are algorithmically delivered to users on their feeds, and include ‘groups you should join’, ‘people you may know, and ‘pages you should follow’. The Facebook Papers provide additional detail in relation to how Meta recommends content on Facebook: “Facebook is most active on delivering content to users on recommendation surfaces like ‘Pages you may like’, ‘Groups you should join’ and suggested videos on Watch… Users don’t opt in to these experiences by following other users or pages. Instead, Facebook is actively presenting these experiences, and according to ethicists, is therefore entirely responsible if these experiences are harmful [emphasis added].”214 Karen Hao, “The Facebook whistleblower says its algorithms are dangerous. Here’s why.”, MIT Technology Review, 5 October 2021, technologyreview.com/2021/10/05/1036519/facebook-whistleblower-frances-haugen-algorithms 210 The Facebook Papers, “Facebook and Responsibility”, 09 March 2020, documentcloud.org/documents/21594152tier2_rank_other_0320 211 The Facebook Papers, “Facebook and Responsibility”, 09 March 2020, documentcloud.org/documents/21594152tier2_rank_other_0320 212 The Facebook Papers, “Facebook and Responsibility”, 09 March 2020, pp. 4-5. documentcloud.org/documents/21594152tier2_rank_other_0320 213 The Facebook Papers, “Facebook and Responsibility”, 09 March 2020, documentcloud.org/documents/21594152tier2_rank_other_0320 214 THE SOCIAL ATROCITY META AND THE RIGHT TO REMEDY FOR THE ROHINGYA Amnesty International 43