2. METHODOLOGY This report is based on research conducted by Amnesty International between February and June 2022. Amnesty International conducted remote interviews with ten Rohingya activists and refugees, predominantly located in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The organization conducted 12 further interviews with subject matter experts, including former Meta staff, civil society activists involved in digital rights activism in Myanmar, academics, and lawyers. Most interviews were conducted in English, while some were conducted in the Rohingya language with the support of an interpreter. The information gathered from these interviews was then corroborated with local activists, news coverage, journalists, and other available sources. All interviewees gave informed consent in advance of being interviewed. Amnesty International did not provide any incentives in exchange for interviews. Due to security risks, some of those interviewed requested anonymity, while others wished to share their identities publicly. For those who chose anonymity, Amnesty International used pseudonyms and omitted all potentially identifying information from this report. Amnesty International also conducted an extensive analysis of the human rights implications of the Facebook Papers, a cache of internal Meta documents which were disclosed by whistle-blower Frances Haugen to the US Congress in October 2021. These documents were obtained from public sources, including those published by Gizmodo4 and Accountable Tech.5 Additionally, unpublished files were obtained from journalists who had been granted access to the files. This analysis was informed by Amnesty International’s interviews with subject matter experts and desk research. The organization also carried out extensive desk research using information from open sources, including relevant international human rights standards, reports from civil society organizations, domestic and international news media, academic journals, and UN reports. This report builds directly on extensive previous investigations by Amnesty International that documented institutionalized discrimination and segregation of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, and crimes against humanity committed during the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya population in northern Rakhine State in 2017. On 20 May 2022, Amnesty International wrote to Meta and asked questions regarding the company’s actions in relation to its business activities in Myanmar before and during the 2017 atrocities. Meta responded that it could not provide information concerning the period leading up to 2017 because the company is “currently engaged in litigation proceedings in relation to related matters”. Amnesty International again wrote to Meta on 14 June 2022 to inform the company of relevant allegations contained in this report and to give the company the opportunity to respond, but Meta declined. Throughout this report, the term “Meta” is used to refer to the company, Meta Systems Inc (formerly Facebook Inc), including in relation to the period prior to the company’s re-brand in October 2021. The term “Facebook” is generally used to refer to the Facebook social media platform, unless directly citing another source that uses “Facebook” to refer to the company itself. Dell Cameron and others, “Read the Facebook Papers for Yourself”, Gizmodo, 18 April 2022, https://gizmodo.com/facebook-papers-howto-read-1848702919 4 5 Accountable Tech, “The Facebook Papers: SEC Documents”, undated, https://facebookpapers.com/sec-documents/ THE SOCIAL ATROCITY META AND THE RIGHT TO REMEDY FOR THE ROHINGYA Amnesty International 12