Meta has been accused of allowing violent and hateful posts from Ethiopia to thrive on Facebook in a new lawsuit.
Filed in Kenya, the lawsuit claims the social media giant’s actions have inflamed the country’s civil war between the government and rebel forces in the northern Tigray region, which has seen thousands killed and millions displaced.
was filed against Goalowner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, by two Ethiopian researchers and the Kenyan human rights group, the Katiba Institute.
They have argued that Facebook’s recommendation system amplified violent posts on Ethiopiaincluding several that preceded the murder of Abrham Mearag, the father of one of the investigators.
The lawsuit described Facebook posts published in October 2021 that used ethnic slurs to refer to Meareg, shared her address, and called for her death.
Mearag reported them to Facebook at the time, but the company refused to remove them immediately or in any way.
cases at all, the lawsuit claims.
Meta has also been accused of failing to exercise reasonable care in training its algorithms to identify dangerous information.
posts and in the recruitment of staff to control the content of the languages covered in Nairobi.
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The company has said hate speech and incitement to violence were against Facebook and Instagram rules.
“We invest heavily in equipment and technology to help us find and remove this content,” Meta spokeswoman Erin McPike said.
He added: “We employ staff with local knowledge and experience and continue to develop our capabilities to detect infringing content in the most widely spoken languages in Ethiopia.”
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The plaintiffs ask the court to order Meta to take emergency measures to demote violent content and increase moderation
staff in Nairobi and create restitution funds of around $2bn (£1.6bn) for victims of violence incited on Facebook.
The case brings echoes of allegations Meta has faced for years involving atrocities fueled on its platforms, including on
Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Cambodia.
Last year, the company’s independent Oversight Board recommended a review of how Facebook and Instagram have been used to spread content that heightens the risk of violence in Ethiopia.
