A lawsuit has been filed against Meta Platforms, accusing the company of enabling violent and abusive posts from Ethiopia to proliferate on Facebook, inflaming the country’s bloody civil war.
Two Ethiopian researchers and the Kenyan rights group Katiba Institute filed the suit in Kenya’s High Court on Tuesday.
It alleges that Facebook’s recommendation systems amplify violent posts in Ethiopia, including many that preceded the murder of one of the researchers’ father.
The plaintiffs are seeking the court to order Meta to take emergency steps to demote violent content, boost moderation employees in Nairobi, and set aside around $2 billion in reparation funds for victims of violence incited by Facebook.
Among the plaintiffs is Abrham Meareg, who claims his father, Tigrayan academic Meareg Amare Abrha, was murdered after racist Facebook posts about him were published in October 2021.
The postings disclosed Abrha’s address and ordered his execution. According to the lawsuit, Meareg reported them to Facebook, but the corporation refused to remove them swiftly or, in some cases, at all. His father was murdered in November of last year.
“If Facebook had just stopped the spread of hate and moderated posts properly, my father would still be alive,” said Meareg.
“I’m taking Facebook to court so no one ever suffers as my family has again. I’m seeking justice for millions of my fellow Africans hurt by Facebook’s profiteering – and an apology for my father’s murder,” he added.
According to the lawsuit, the company failed to use reasonable care in training its algorithms to identify possibly hazardous messages and in employing staff to monitor content for the languages covered by its regional moderation hub in Nairobi.
Hate speech and encouragement to violence, according to Meta spokesman Erin McPike, are against Facebook and Instagram policies.
“We invest heavily in teams and technology to help us find and remove this content,” McPike added. “We employ staff with local knowledge and expertise and continue to develop our capabilities to catch violating content in the most widely spoken languages in Ethiopia.
Meta’s independent Oversight Board last year recommended a review of how Facebook and Instagram have been used to spread content that heightens the risk of violence in Ethiopia.
Since conflict erupted in 2020 between the Ethiopian government and rebellious forces from the northern Tigray region, thousands have died and millions have been displaced. A peace deal between the two sides was signed in November, but tensions remain.
The legal case filed against Meta carries echoes of accusations the company has faced for years of atrocities being stoked on its platforms, including in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Cambodia.
The company has acknowledged being “too slow” to act in Myanmar and other conflicts.
