So the small nation on Myanmar is in crisis. It will take this whole page to explain, but here is a link that tells it. The photos and articles are heartbreaking. But what does this have to do with IT service? Some accuse social media sites of pumping up the hatred. Facebook and Myanmar crisis and falsehood.
So when I say some, I’m mainly talking about the United Nations. They accuse Facebook of enabling hate speech and the talk of ethnic and religious violence in Myanmar. Furthermore, other social media outlets like Insatgram and WhatsApp are under the same accusations. In fact, Sri Lanka wants to ban these social media sites altogether. Leaders say it’s because these sites are promoting hatred and violence. India also struggles with false info through social media, and extremist groups using it as a tool. In fact, it has lead to riots and murders.
But let’s get back to Facebook and Myanmar. Some UN activists warn that Myanmar’s extremist are usings Facebook to incite hatred against ethnic and religious minorities. The hatred is so bad that in summer 2017 alone, over 650,000 fled to Bangladesh and other neighboring countries. One UN leader told media that Facebook does indeed play a role in hate speech. This leader even targeted a certain person. He accused one popular uber nationalist monk of using Facebook to preach hatred and sow seeds of division. However, some UN investigators say they erased or blocked this nationalists’ page. But others say that’s not enough.
Like guns, it’s not the social media site itself. It’s the person using it. It’s the human heart that’s behind the keyboard. Some use Facebook and social media for good. But there are always some evil souls who use it for evil. But for a nation to cancel Facebook, or any social media site, or any IT support site, is censorship. Then the government gets all the power. And that’s just as evil as the evil they’re facing now. Why should they censor everybody and make everybody suffer just because of a few evil hearts and minds?