In Burma, social media obviously contributed to the repression of freedom of information. I think they also contributed to inciting the genocide. One could almost compare the role played by Facebook in Burma to the role played by the Radio Milles Collines in Rwanda. In 1994, just before the Rwandan genocide, calls to hatred were broadcast on that radio station and rebroadcast throughout the country, which accelerated the eruption of the genocide.
In Burma, as I explained, the number of Facebook users has increased exponentially. That platform was used to spread fake news that led to hate speech which increased hatred for the Rohingya. We must also recognize the great responsibility Facebook bears in sparking the genocide, because nothing was done to moderate activities on this platform in Burma, so much so that in the spring, a collective of a dozen Burmese NGOs sent an email to Mark Zuckerberg to make him aware of his share of responsibility in the Burmese genocide.
More generally, I cover all of the Asian area. We see that social media are liberally used to spread hatred. This is the case in India with Twitter, and also in Vietnam and the Philippines. It’s something that really needs to be looked at. There is a real need for moderation, which is very difficult to define, but social media are really responsible for spreading hate speech.