KUALA LUMPUR (MALAYSIA) – When the pandemic spread across Malaysia, it triggered a wave of hate speech and false information on Facebook targetting Rohingya Muslim refugees. This prompted human rights groups to lodge a complaint with the social media firm.
However, even after six months, many of the posts against the Rohingya remained on the platform and they include pages such as “Anti Rohingya Club” and “Foreigners Mar Malaysia’s Image”. Those two pages were recently taken down following the intervention of journalists.
In a private group with 1,000 members, one comment still remains and it reads “Hope they all die, this cursed pig ethnic group”.
The social media firm had admitted in 2018 that its platform was used to stoke hatred against the Rohingya in Myanmar and it spent more than $3.7 billion (£2.8 billion) last year on safety and security.
“Assertions that Facebook is uncommitted to addressing safety and security are inaccurate and do not reflect the significant investment we’ve made to address harmful content on our platform,” a company spokeswoman said.
There are more than three dozen pages and groups, including accounts of retired as well as serving Malaysian security officials that carry discriminatory rhetoric against the refugees and migrant workers.
In many of these groups and pages, there are comments asking for violence against them.