Victoire Rio The Role of Social Media in Fomenting Violence: Myanmar 17 be overseen by a human rights executive, reporting directly to the Company’s senior management team, and strategies should be reviewed and updated regularly as the context evolves. 2. Engage directly with local civil society Since 2018, Facebook has dramatically scaled up its engagement with Myanmar civil society. In addition to undertaking a number of country visits, which have allowed for the direct exposure of different product and research teams, the company has established a dedicated Myanmar team and organised a series of consultations with stakeholders across the country. Unlike their global counterparts, local civil society actors have direct experience with the product and the way it is used in their market. This makes them uniquely positioned to provide detailed and granular feedback. These engagements have gone a long way towards helping Facebook develop a more sophisticated understanding of the Myanmar context and should serve as a model for other countries.  Social Media companies should make every effort to consult local experts and civil society directly on matters of relevance to their country. Wherever possible, local teams should be established to enable in-person and local language engagement.  Social media companies should increase exposure of their product teams to different user realities, and where possible, facilitate direct engagement with civil society in countries facing high risk of human rights abuse.  Social Media companies should also conduct adequate due diligence to ensure that high risk users and minorities are adequately represented in consultations and that their safety is not being compromised by their engagement. In countries where the context and situation warrant it, companies should be prepared to provide direct channels to their regional or global staff to ensure engagement of minority groups which may not feel comfortable engaging with national staff.  Social Media companies should also commit to following clear and adequate engagement practices. In particular, they should clearly distinguish between information sharing and consultation, and where consulting, communicate the purpose and scope of the consultation as well as provide the consulted party with sufficient notice and background information to allow them to shape an informed opinion. 3. Contextualise policy using a tiered approach to protected categories The experience of Myanmar demonstrates how hate speech targeted at vulnerable minorities can pave the way for widespread human rights abuse. While Facebook’s intention to apply the same community standards to all of its users is laudable, Myanmar should remind us that not all “protected characteristics” face an equal threat of harm, and that threat can vary greatly across socio-political contexts, as well as over time. The threat faced by Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar in 2016 and 2017, for example, cannot be equated to the threat faced by White Christians in a context like America or even Rohingya Muslims residing outside of Myanmar.