8/21/22, 10:18 PM Oversight Board overrules Facebook deletion of Myanmar “hate speech” post – Free Expression Myanmar disproportionate effects Myanmar has suffered from the prevalence of “hate speech” on Facebook, much of which started as intentional incitement. Facebook’s earlier inaction led to the public normalisation of “hate speech” and now, when Facebook is taking action, its use of crude AI and sanctions to moderate content creates further risks, namely incorrect identifications, unnecessary approaches, and disproportionate sanctions. Deleting clear incitement is necessary, but blanket deletions of posts, pages, and users for “hate speech” that does not reach the incitement threshold does little to improve public knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour. Recommendation: The OB should Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law Constitution — ဖွဲ့စည်းပုံ Printing and Publishing Law Penal Code — ရာဇသတ်ကြီး Telecommunications Law — ဆက်သွယ် ရေးဥပဒေ News Media Law — သတင်းမီဒီ ယာ ဥပဒေ encourage Facebook to implement a more sophisticated, proactive, and educational response with targeted sanctions incorporating international human rights standards on free expression. Insufficient information published for public to provide valid comments INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS နိုင်ငံတကာ စံနှုန်းများ Right to protest Defamation — အသရေဖျက်မှု False news — မှားယွင်းသော သတင်း The OB has published just two words from the deleted post, plus a summary of a translation of the Myanma language post. At the same time, the OB has asked for public comment on Facebook’s application of its rules, values, and responsibilities. For good reason there are many – including FEM – urging Facebook to take more or smarter action on “hate speech” in Myanmar, and that may be reflected in public comments. But the lack of information – particularly the actual Myanma language – raises concerns about the validity of public comments. Uninformed comments are invalid comments. They could also influence and lead to an invalid decision by the OB. Recommendation: The OB should consider complimenting public comments with expert consultation, expert testimony, confidential discussions with trusted partners, and offering appellants the option of waiving their privacy for open justice. https://freeexpressionmyanmar.org/oversight-board-overrules-facebook-deletion-of-myanmar-hate-speech-post/ 4/9