Case 1:20-mc-00036-JEB-DAR Document 10 Filed 08/18/20 Page 26 of 29
the requested information to The Gambia’s case. Opp’n 10. The Gambia’s requests are targeted
to discovery that will help prove Myanmar intended to commit genocide against the Rohingya.
Myanmar has engaged in a coordinated effort to incite genocide that has involved a variety of
government actors and entities. Facebook has publicly stated that it has reviewed content from
Myanmar’s government, its officials, its entities, and its actors and determined that they used
Facebook to spread hate speech, enable serious human rights abuses, or used the platform to
inflame ethnic and religious tensions.45 The information The Gambia is requesting is
information that Facebook has already reviewed and analyzed. Accordingly, our requests are
limited to four discrete categories of information:
(1)
Requests 1-7 draw on information that is publicly available and are targeted to
specific accounts, groups, and organizations that Facebook has suspended or
blocked. Those requests are limited to “documents and communications
produced, drafted, posted or published” by specific Myanmar government or
military officials or entities or organizations affiliated with the Myanmar
government.
(2)
Requests 8-12 are limited to “documents and communications produced, drafted,
or published” by Myanmar state officials, representatives entities, or groups that
Facebook has suspended or terminated from 2012 to the present because for
concerns relating to human rights, dissemination of hate speech, engaging in
coordinated inauthentic behavior, violating Facebook’s misrepresentation policy.
The 2012 timeframe is relevant because, according to a 2018 United Nations
Report, violence erupted across Rakhine State and, during this period, Myanmar
45
See generally Removing Myanmar Military Officials From Facebook, Facebook (Aug. 28, 2018)
(Updated Dec. 18, 2018), https://about.fb.com/news/2018/08/removing-myanmar-officials/; Sara Su,
Update on Myanmar, Facebook (Aug. 15, 2018), https://about.fb.com/news/2018/08/update-on-myanmar/
(“It has also become clear that in Myanmar, false news can be used to incite violence, especially when
coupled with ethnic and religious tensions. We have updated our credible violence policies to account for
this, removing misinformation that has the potential to contribute to imminent violence or physical harm
… While we’re adapting our approach to false news given the changing circumstances, our rules on hate
speech have stayed the same: it’s not allowed. And we are getting much more proactive in designating
Myanmar hate figures and organizations on Facebook …”); BSR, Human Rights Impact Assessment
Facebook in Myanmar 27, Facebook (Oct. 2018), https://about.fb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/bsrfacebook-myanmar-hria_final.pdf (“The decision to ban 20 military individuals and organizations from
Facebook in August 2018 was a strong statement of the company’s determination to act against those
seeking to use Facebook in ways that spread violence and enable genocide.”).
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