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HASTINGS LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 71:813
CONCLUSION
As Zuckerberg admitted, Facebook has a responsibility to uphold human
rights.236 This responsibility may also include legal responsibility under the
theory of corporate criminal complicity. Issues remain outstanding with regard
to jurisdiction and evidentiary proof, as shown in the Myanmar case study.
However, based on the legal theories of corporate criminal complicity, Facebook
could be held criminally liable for its operation of a platform used by
authoritarian regimes to commit human rights abuses.
To address the obstacles of jurisdiction and evidentiary proof, the
international community could propose and establish an international criminal
tribunal with jurisdiction over corporations. This would certainly solve the
jurisdiction issue. Furthermore, the creation of an international criminal tribunal
would also address the evidentiary proof issues. Because the potential defendant,
Facebook, is effectively holding the data that may furnish potential criminal
liability, an international tribunal with appropriate jurisdiction could subpoena
such data to investigate Facebook’s involvement.
While Facebook can be held accountable through other means such as
reputational costs, shareholder and employee activism, it appears not to have
learned its lesson with Myanmar. In fact, Facebook is continuously entering
markets where its platform can easily be weaponized.237 As part of its vision to
connect the entire world to the Internet within the next five to ten years,
Facebook has set up free Internet hotspots called “Express Wi-fi” in India,
Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania.238 There are no reports on whether
Facebook has assessed the potential impact its platform may have on human
rights in those five countries. While Facebook’s efforts may be beneficial to
these countries, its lack of transparency with data collection and reporting
remain significant problems.
Facebook is currently the ultimate regulator of content on its platform, a
task it performs with little to no accountability. The threat of liability in
international criminal law may encourage corporations to act more swiftly in
response to human rights abuses by authoritarian regimes. As observed with the
Myanmar case study, civil society organizations played a large role in alerting
Facebook to potential misuses of its platform in Myanmar. Facebook would be
wise to rely more heavily on these organizations to uphold human rights.
War crimes and crimes against humanity rank as some of the worst crimes
in the international framework. Although corporate criminal liability is currently
theoretical, civil society organizations’ and governments’ increasing calls for
liability may eventually lead to a future where social media corporations are held
accountable for their operations, and where victims can seek relief without being
dismissed on purely jurisdictional and evidentiary grounds. Exploring the
236. See Transcript, supra note 1.
237. Nitasha Tiku, After Troubles in Myanmar, Facebook Charges Ahead in Africa, WIRED (Oct. 7, 2018,
7:00 AM), https://www.wired.com/story/after-troubles-myanmar-facebook-charges-ahead-africa/.
238. Id.