initiative known as ‘Panzagar’ or ‘flower speech’ by creating a ‘flower speech sticker pack’.227 However, the civil society activists involved in the initiative noticed that the stickers were having serious unintended consequences. According to Matt Schissler, as reported by Cecilia Kang and Sheera Frenkel, “Facebook’s algorithms counted them as one more way people were enjoying a post. Instead of diminishing the number of people who saw a piece of hate speech, the stickers had the opposite effect of making the posts more popular”.228 David Madden was among those heavily involved in repeated efforts to convince Meta to take action to address increasing risks in Myanmar between 2015-2017 (as detailed further in Section 7.1, below). He told Amnesty International that although the activist community did not explicitly refer to the dangers associated with Meta’s content-shaping algorithms in those exact terms, they were “absolutely attuned to the basic principles of these issues”.229 According to Madden, he and his colleagues “had highlighted to Facebook how quickly dangerous content went viral. It was pretty clear that there were multiple forces at play… There was a system to game. It was often shocking [to observe] the sheer velocity of the spread of this content.” 230 Madden lamented the ineffectiveness of the measures which were offered up by Meta to address the rising tide of anti-Rohingya content and incitement to violence. He reflected: “Well-meaning people with “Panzagar” [flower speech] stickers couldn’t beat the algorithm… Someone could threaten the life of a journalist and it could go viral before anyone at Menlo Park had even woken up.” 231 There is evidence which suggests that the key institutional drivers behind advocacy of hatred against the Rohingya on Facebook proactively and successfully leveraged Meta’s content-shaping algorithms as they sought to demonize and dehumanize the Rohingya. A 2018 study by Victoire Rio found that the Myanmar military and radical Buddhist nationalist groups such as Ma Ba Tha engaged in “viral engagement tactics”: “Tactics such as the use of clickbait headlines, explicit requests for likes and shares, or the tagging of multiple accounts on posts were regularly used by assets believed to belong to these groups’ networks. These strategies appear to have been used to maximize newsfeed distribution and boost content reach, as well as to build and maintain an engaged audience.”232 6.3.1 RECOMMENDATIONS & NEWS FEED The Facebook Papers reveal that on an unknown date in 2020, a team within Meta received an “escalation” of a video by the leading anti-Rohingya hate figure U Wirathu. The video was reported for violating community standards. Following an internal investigation, Meta found that its algorithms had been actively promoting the video by this hate figure. The investigation revealed that over 70% of the video’s views had come from “chaining, i.e., we are actively recommending divisive and inciting content”.233 According to one definition offered by Meta, “chaining” is an example of “non follower-based distribution” and refers to video content “which auto-plays after a video is complete and suggests what’s “Up Next” to viewers”. 234 This example exemplifies Meta’s active amplification of harmful content in Myanmar. It also highlights the weaknesses of Meta’s efforts at improved content moderation in Myanmar as recently as 2020: Wirathu had been ostensibly banned from the platform since 2018.235 The same document reveals that Facebook users in Myanmar spend “far more time on video compared with the rest of the world”, and “a very large amount of time in chained video… with 40% of video time spent happening on chained video”. 236 It also states that “overall video time spent is 53% from chaining”.237 This means that, as of 2020, approximately half of all video content seen by Facebook users in Myanmar was being auto-played for users by Meta’s content-shaping algorithms. 227 See: “Support Panzagar: End Hate Speech with Flower Speech”, Facebook Page, facebook.com/supportflowerspeech 228 Sheera Frenkel & Cecilia Kang, An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook‘s Battle for Domination, 2021, p. 192. 229 Interview by video call with David Madden, 09 June 2022. 230 Interview by video call with David Madden, 09 June 2022. 231 Interview by video call with David Madden, 09 June 2022. 232 Victoire Rio, “The Role of Social Media in Fomenting Violence: Myanmar”. 233 The Facebook Papers, “Video Time Spent in Myanmar”, 12 November 2020, on file with Amnesty International. 234 Facebook, “Growing Your Live Community On Facebook”, facebook.com/fbgaminghome/creators/growing-your-live-community 235 IIFFM, “Detailed findings”, para. 1353. 236 The Facebook Papers, “Video Time Spent in Myanmar”, 12 November 2020, on file with Amnesty International. 237 The Facebook Papers, “Video Time Spent in Myanmar”, 12 November 2020, on file with Amnesty International. THE SOCIAL ATROCITY META AND THE RIGHT TO REMEDY FOR THE ROHINGYA Amnesty International 46