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Facebook Selected election to be held in the United States to release a major report on its role in Myanmar, where it is widely held to encourage genocide.
The situation is arguably more severe than alleged Russia-backed attempts to meddle with the 2016 U.S. election – people have died in Myanmar. Yet, Facebook, Twitter, Facebook, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, YouTube, YouTube, YouTube, YouTube, English, French
It should not. There are some serious issues here that need exploring, and not just in the context of Myanmar.
Has a Fact-Finding Mission previously concluded that social media has played a "determining role" in the crisis, with Facebook the chief actor, but there are Myanmar, it has happily siphoned advertising marketplace, and it has grown to be one of the most dominant internet platforms.
In Myanmar's case, Facebook received comments about the results of the BSR report on "a human rights impact assessment" of Facebook's presence in Myanmar, where it is used by nearly 20 million people.
"The report concludes that, this year, we were not doing enough to prevent our platform from being used to promote division and incite offline violence. We agree that we can and should do more, "Facebook wrote.
That's a positive, if not obvious, start-up Facebook has been criticized for failing to fully invest in change in Myanmar.
Young men browse their Facebook wall on their smartphones on the street in Yangon on August 20, 2015. Facebook remains the dominant social network for US Internet users, while Twitter has failed to keep Showed. AFP PHOTO / Nicolas ASFOURI (Photo credit should read NICOLAS ASFOURI / AFP / Getty Images)
Still no local office
The company confirmed to TechCrunch it does not check to open a local office, an obvious step that Myanmar seriously.
It believes in local presence would put its staff at risk. The BSR report itself concludes that there would be "both advantages and disadvantages" to a Facebook presence in Myanmar since "the existence of local" data or place Facebook staff at safety risk. "
Facebook has a comment on Facebook – where it has been viewed and watched users routinely jailed for Facebook content and pay taxes, to name but three examples.
"How many companies have 20 million users in one country but do not have a single employee, it's absurd." Jes Petersen – CEO of Phandeeyar accelerator firm, which is part of a social advisory group to Facebook in Myanmar – told TechCrunch. "An office would go a long way to building relationships with stakeholders."
Instead, Facebook is a remote team for Myanmar – with five open vacancies on its careers page.
"Earlier this year, we have a dedicated team across product, engineering, and policy to work on issues specific to Myanmar, and said that we plan to grow our team of native Myanmar language speakers reviewing content to at least 100 by the end of 2018 , "It said in its blog post.
However, that has not gotten off the hook, according to the report, which pulled two noticeable quotes from Myanmar-based "stakeholders" interviewed as part of the research. One noted that Myanmar-focused content checkers "need to live and breathe Myanmar and Myanmar, not just the usual suspects."
While another remarked that "at times it feels as if Facebook has outsourced the job to us, but we simply do not have the resources to do it. We have a strong desire to be collaborative, but not to be relied upon. "
With both complaints, it is hard to see how to
Asia Pacific has become a key growth market for U.S. and Europe
Taking action
Without committing to an office, Facebook has taken significant steps to set an example. Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of the Board of Directors, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Board of Directors. Then in October, it was 13 pages and 10 accounts – with a cumulative following over a million – after a New York Times investigation found they had pedaled government propaganda.
The social network also claims that it is positive with its efforts to root out content. During Q2, it said it "proactively identified" 63 percent of content that was removed for hate speech in Myanmar, up from 52 percent and 13 percent in the previous quarters.
Petersen, however, suggests that Facebook has been selective with the information that it has shared. He said the Myanmar-based group is still waiting for a request for further clarification on a wider selection of figures, while Facebook has been less communicative with the group in recent months.
Facebook credits both its hiring of staff and investment in technology for the progress on content, but it remains unclear how those two factors break down. For one thing, the company has been guilty of over-emphasizing the role of AI-based tech plays in Myanmar.
A previous claim from CEO Mark Zuckerberg that his "systems" prevent hate speech from being felt by the Phandeeyar-backed group which has helped Facebook to identify hate speech on Facebook and Messenger. In response to a question from the Zuckerberg, the group expressed its frustration that Facebook is "nowhere near enough to ensure that Myanmar users are provided with the same standards of care as users in the U.S. Europe."
One area of tech is a tangible impact on the adoption of Unicode. More than 90 percent of phones in Myanmar use Zawgyi, but it's easy to use it. It is also improving converts for those stuck on Zawgyi, it said.
In addition, Facebook said it is working on a digital literacy pilot with the Myanmar Book Aid Preservation Foundation and it has partnered with "independent publishers in Myanmar to help build capacity and resources in their online newsrooms."
Myanmar's next election is scheduled for 2020 so the company really needs to get its house in order. Petersen, the CEO Phandeeyar, is concerned about what is happening.
"The report does include some good recommendations. Also, it does not affect the fact that there has been a systematic failure on the part of Facebook to address those issues, and that has not changed, "he said. "It establishes an assumption that they're engaging with Myanmar strongly before, but they have not. Only in the most cursory way.
"There's an absence of real action from Facebook so far and a risk they'll continue to not really care at all – and what will happen if they continue to not care?"
A rohingya ethnic minority man looking for a passport at a temporary makeshift camp after crossing over from Myanmar into the Bangladesh side of the border, near Cox's Bazar's Palangkhali, Friday, Sept. 8, 2017. Tens of thousands more people have crossed by boat and on foot in Bangladesh in the last two weeks of violence in western Myanmar. (Photo by Ahmed Salahuddin / NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Great responsibility
In particular, Petersen and the only members of the Myanmar-based civic group want the company to be more localized development features for Facebook products. In the same way, they are hopeful that they would be able to work with them in the future.
While Petersen's ask is likely to fall asleep, the fact remains that they are vulnerable to failure.
Whether it is following the news on WhatsApp in India, hate speech in Sri Lanka, or the issues in Myanmar, it is a time for a global strategy rather than a strategy for global use.
Zuckerberg said earlier this year that "it would be near-sighted to focus on short-term income over people." Even in a 'poor' last quarter, Facebook recorded a $ 5 billion profit and a logical extension of Zuckerberg's 'people-first' thesis would be a genuine investment in markets where its presence is controversial.
Until we see that happen, Facebook is not fully committed to living up to its responsibilities.
