Rohingya refugees in Myanmar have filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms Inc. ($ 150), claiming that social media did not take action against the Rohingya who were subjected to military violence during the violence in Myanmar last February and that no action was taken against them.
A U.S. lawsuit filed by law firms Edelson PC and Fields PLC in California alleges that the company’s actions contributed to the real-world violence faced by the Rohingya community. As a co-ordinating action, the British lawyers also submitted a notice to the London office on Facebook.
Facebook has not yet commented on the case. The company said it was “too slow to prevent misinformation and hatred in Myanmar” and that the military had taken steps to crack down on platform abuse in the region, including a ban on Facebook and Instagram, following the February 1 coup.
In the above cases, Facebook has stated that the US Internet Act, also known as Article 230, which states that ‘online platforms’ such as Facebook are not responsible for content published by third parties, is protected from liability for content published by users.
U.S. law can apply to foreign courts for alleged damages and actions by companies in other countries, but two legal experts quoted Reuters as saying they were unaware of a successful precedent for enforcing foreign law in lawsuits against social media companies.
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