Mastodawn

Etrigan Jun 19, 2023

Yassie > moved to 0w0.is

I know people have elucidated greatly on why Zucc is bad, but I want to hone onto one specific event.

In 2010, Facebook entered then then-newly-opened country of Myanmar under their “Free Basics” programme. Zucc would underwrite the data costs of the mobile networks. In exchange? Well, Facebook would be ‘free’ for everyone to use in the country.

This had the (un)intended effect that everyone in Myanmar associated Facebook with the Internet.

Facebook, at this point, did not have a Burmese-speaking moderation team. They would not for a while. This is important to note. The Facebook algorithm started amplifying anti-Muslim content. Because that’s what people wanted to see in Myanmar. The military-backed civilian government even spread this content on Facebook. Because of this, such content spread far and wide.

It spread so fast that it catalysed a racial and ethnic genocide in Myanmar of this Muslim minority group. It took Zucc three years into the conflict to appoint a Burmese-speaking moderation team; by which point it was too late.

Facebook willingly, knowingly, and with only their bottom line at the forefront, accelerated one of the most devastating genocides in the world.

We should not give the “benefit of a doubt” to a war criminal.

Yassie > moved to 0w0.is Jun 18, 2023

BTW when I said Facebook was the Internet in Myanmar I mean that Facebook was installed on every phone in the country. By approx 2015 half of every adult in the country used Facebook.

Fancy Sandwiches Jun 18, 2023

@yassie_j Facebook was so prevalent that people didn't refer to the Internet as "The Internet", but instead as "Facebook".

Nelson Jun 18, 2023

@yassie_j For anyone looking for more sources on Facebook's contribution to genocide, here are a few:
- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55929654
- https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/09/myanmar-facebooks-systems-promoted-violence-against-rohingya-meta-owes-reparations-new-report/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_content_management_controversies

Myanmar coup: How Facebook became the 'digital tea shop'

The military has moved to block Facebook in a country where it is deeply integrated into everyday life and political discourse.

Jennifer Moore 😷Jun 19, 2023

Thanks for the links.

❄️Jun 18, 2023

@yassie_j fucking christ

i vaguely remember this, thanks for saying it again

Yassie > moved to 0w0.is Jun 18, 2023

@ShadowJonathan This is only the tip, Jo. Free Basics was also a programme in places like India, The Philippines, Ethiopia, and Nigeria.

I mention those four because both government and provocateurs in those countries used Facebook to spread racial/religious misinformation. Ethiopia is in a civil war, The Philippines had their whole Robert Duterte moment, and Nigeria has had consistent problems with inter-ethnic tensions.

Those things would have still happened without Facebook, of course. But Facebook has had a catalytic effect on these conflicts because FACEBOOK IS FREE.

You make Facebook the de facto choice, and Facebook becomes everything.

evelyn Jun 18, 2023

@yassie_j very good reminder yas, it's important we don't forget that the harm these people cause can and does extend so much further beyond 'only the internet'. it sends chills down my spine to know that filth like him walk around freely

Yassie > moved to 0w0.is Jun 18, 2023

@macja It’s the principle of the entire thing. Zucc is a war criminal. If there was no Facebook in Myanmar, the effects of the genocide would have been absolutely lessened. Facebook’s actions have IRL effects. Why do you think Musk wants to turn Twitter into a cesspool? Because he then he can choose what country he can turn into the next Myanmar. He already did that with Turkey. The US is next. There is no offline.

MOVED to @[email protected]Jun 18, 2023

@yassie_j i'm surprised facebook, that even at this point was massive enough to do this, didn't have a moderation team in burmese, a widely spoken language in SEA that is also the national language of an entire nation state 🥴

Yassie > moved to 0w0.is Jun 18, 2023

@chjara I remember reading a report about it at the time and I was absolutely shocked that a company with the resources of Facebook didn’t give a fuck about local moderation from the get-go.

🔻 aetios 🇪🇺Jun 18, 2023

@chjara @yassie_j simple: cost money

rood Jun 19, 2023

@chjara @yassie_j not a small nation either. It's population is equivalent to France.

A Cyber Expert Jun 20, 2023

@chjara @yassie_j
That company is run by an inexperienced and incompetent numpty. They didn’t have suitable moderation (0 native speakers per 50 million users) and very little material was removed in spite of pressure from journalists.

I’m trying to find articles from 2016 or so when specific posts were presented to Facebook and it still took until publication date many months later before the posts were removed. Even a simple word filter would have caught most.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/31/world/asia/myanmar-genocide-facebook-military.html

In Myanmar, a Facebook Blackout Brings More Anger Than a Genocide Charge

Many citizens seemed more annoyed about the social media site’s barring of the country’s military leaders than about accusations of ethnic cleansing.

The New York Times

Warrior Of Latte

@yassie_j For folks interested in this, Max Fisher's book The Chaos Machine went heavy into the negative effects of social media companies, with a special focus on various events like this.

If you can stomach a heavy read about genocides, pogroms, and mass shootings, along with a tone of moral panic that is mostly justified, it's a worthwhile read about the topic.

Erin [they/them]Jun 18, 2023

@yassie_j geez I knew zucc was bad but I didn't know he was *war criminal* bad, wtf

marble 弹珠 Jun 18, 2023

David Mankins Jun 18, 2023

Max Fischer's *The Chaos machine* is full of stories like this. About Twitter, too.

MOVED TO PLUSH.CITY Jun 18, 2023

@yassie_j holy fucking christ holy shit

i literally gasped when i was reading this

this feels almost unreal

HOW ON EARTH

fucking jesus
this is horrendous

@yassie_j To hell with Zuckerberg, Facebook, and Meta. Really to hell with all corporatized social media. Corporations care about one thing only and that is money. In this case Facebook, Meta, and Zuckerberg are #war #profiteers.

Kevin Leecaster Jun 18, 2023

@yassie_j
There would seem to be a difference between allowing Meta's users to interact with the Fediverse as opposed to allowing the corporation to have any control over the Fediverse to me.

To me this seems like a potential means to strip away some their customers which is what is my goal ever since the Rohingya genocide.

Thanks for posting the story since so many have forgotten or never heard about it.

Ibly 🏳️‍⚧️

@yassie_j this above all else is the reason why any instance admin caught doing NDA talks with facebook should be immediately shunned tbqh

aburtch Jun 19, 2023

@yassie_j This is exhibit A in “capitalism doesn’t give a shit about anything but money and anyone who pretends otherwise or tries to argue otherwise is either clueless or lying.”

IAG Jun 19, 2023

@yassie_j @freeplay I wrote an essay on this for my English class. I am all too aware of Facebook's mistakes (read: essentially war crimes) and don't want them here. Especially since I hate Instagram's userbase.

skua Jun 19, 2023

@yassie_j
#FacebookGenocide
Wow.

Thanks to all the folk who contributed to this thread.
It's a goldmine of references to #ZuckerbergAndGenocide

And that is directly relevant to #FediPact and
[tiny tiny font] getting a local government authority here in #Perth #Australia to not associate themselves with genocide by using Facebook.

Dr. Redfern Jon Barrett Jun 19, 2023

@yassie_j I just finished reading The Chaos Machine and was honestly horrified when it got to the Myanmar genocide. You're right, he's a war criminal.

Vermyndax Jun 19, 2023

@yassie_j This also happened in Philippines.

Kee Hinckley Jun 19, 2023

@yassie_j @grrrr_shark The good: This story (and others like it) are talked about in onboarding videos at Meta and everyone in the Integrity groups are very aware of it and very concerned about repeats.

The bad: Mark still has the ability to override those groups. And cost cutting is almost certainly going to degrade existing Integrity.

As I mentioned in a reply to someone. Meta’s new product should not be allowed to join the Fediverse until they’ve demonstrated they have full integration with reporting systems, and they’ve fully integrated their app’s content review systems with the Integrity group there.

l'empathie mécanique Jun 19, 2023

@nazgul @yassie_j @grrrr_shark Fully integrates as in “a few billions of facebook users can report stuff on Fediverse”? I somehow doubt this is viable.

Of course one can do one-way integration instead of being “fully” integrated. But then there would be zombie army of spam instances manipulating FB feeds from outside.

The setup just can’t work however you’d put it.

Kee Hinckley Jun 19, 2023

@dpwiz @yassie_j @grrrr_shark Fully would mean whatever level of integration is determined to be workable. Specifying that is the first step. And that has to consider everything from the different standards of harm and hate, to the problem of scale, to anticipating attack vectors.

The second issue (making sure they’ve integrated it with *their* systems) is really critical though. If they aren’t managing outbound content properly, they’re going to get blocked right and left. Everyone’s on a hair trigger.

Free Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉Jun 19, 2023

@yassie_j
"I think we should do better"

Zucc's response to congressional questions related to FB's role in this genocide.

"I think we should do better"

You *think*?

My camera shoots fascists Jul 7, 2023

@yassie_j
Facebook was warned over and over and over about how their platform was being abused in Myanmar. Over and over they ignored it or took half measures. This story goes into depth. This company is never to be trusted.
https://www.wired.com/story/how-facebooks-rise-fueled-chaos-and-confusion-in-myanmar/