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.