1 dehumanising a group,’ Stecklow says. ‘Then when things like genocide happen, potentially 2 there may not be a public uproar or outcry as people don’t even view these people as people.’” 105 3 100. According to Voices that Poison, a U.S.-based human rights group, “speech that 4 describes victims as vermin, pests, insects or animals is a rhetorical hallmark of incitement to 5 violence, even genocide, because it dehumanises the victim.”106 Fortify Rights, a human rights 6 group, similarly noted: “Burmese individuals and groups have disseminated vitriolic Facebook 7 posts dehumanizing and calling for widespread attacks against the Rohingya. For example, the 8 widely-followed monk Ashin Wirathu, head of the ultranationalist group formerly known as Ma 9 Ba Tha, posted a reference to the Rohingya in 2014, saying ‘You can be full of kindness and 10 love, but you cannot sleep next to a mad dog. If we are weak, our land will become Muslim.’” 107 11 12 101. The New York Times reported that the Myanmar military had posted anti- Rohingya propaganda on Facebook using fake accounts: 13 They posed as fans of pop stars and national heroes as they flooded Facebook with their hatred. One said Islam was a global threat to Buddhism. Another shared a false story about the rape of Buddhist woman by a Muslim man. 14 15 The Facebook posts were not from everyday internet users. Instead, they were from Myanmar military personnel who turned the social network into a tool for ethnic cleansing, according to former military officials, researchers and civilian officials in the country. 16 17 18 *** 19 The Myanmar military’s Facebook operation began several years ago, said people familiar with how it worked. The military threw major resources at the task, the people said, with as many as 700 people on it. 20 21 22 They began by setting up what appears to be news pages and pages on Facebook that were devoted to Burmese pop stars, models and 23 24 25 26 27 28 105 Anisa Sudebar, The country where Facebook posts whipped up hate, BBC TRENDING (Sept. 12, 2018), https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-45449938. 106 Hereward Holland, Facebook in Myanmar: Amplifying Hate Speech?, AL JAZEERA (Jun. 14, 2014), https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2014/6/14/facebook-in-myanmaramplifying-hate-speech. 107 Fortify Rights Report, at 95, https://www.fortifyrights.org/downloads/Fortify_Rights_Long_Swords_July_2018.pdf. CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT 38 Case No. __________________