United Nations (UN) human rights chief on Wednesday said social media giants, including Facebook, must proactively block content inciting hatred.
TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the social media must also prevent online campaigns which target minorities, such as those undertaken in Myanmar.
Zeid, who said Facebook had allowed its platform to be used to incite violence against Rohingya, was speaking after UN experts accused Myanmar generals of “genocidal intent”.
He said he didn’t feel Facebook took the issue seriously at first but that the company’s attitude began to change after Yanghee Lee, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, told a Geneva press conference in March that Facebook was being used in the country to spread hate speech.
“But it shouldn’t be because the press or the human rights community highlights the problem for them then suddenly to respond. They should be aware of it ahead of time,” Zeid said.
“So I don’t think they should wait until the crisis begins. They should be thinking proactively about what steps they will take to mitigate that,” he added.
However, Zeid said there was a danger that social media could be over-regulated in a way that breaches human rights law including the right to freedom of expression.
Tech giants should “keep the broadest space available and open to the exercise of freedom of expression”, relying on international human rights law for regulation, he said.