Lawsuit Accuses Facebook of Permitting Posts That Spurred Civil War in Ethiopia – Gizmodo

Photo: Getty Images (Getty Images)Facebook and its parent company Meta are being sued for allegedly allowing toxic, violence-inciting content to flourish in communities in Ethiopia, where a civil war has left hundreds of thousands dead in recent years. The lawsuit, filed by two Ethiopian researchers, accuses the tech giant of helping to fuel violence in the region through a lack of effective content moderation controls. The suit claims that the company’s recommendations systems—which use algorithms to encourage users to engage with certain kinds of content over others—fueled the sharing of hateful posts regionally. The lawsuit has asked a court to force Meta to take steps to halt the spread of violent content, including hiring additional regional moderation staff, adjusting its algorithms to demote such content, and setting up restitution funds of some $2 billion to help victims of violence “incited on Facebook,” Reuters reports. “Not only does Facebook allow such content to be on the platform, they prioritise it and they make money from such content. Why are they allowed to do that?” Mercy Mutemi, the attorney for the researchers, asked during a recent press conference.One of the researchers behind the suit, Abrham Meareg, has a personal connection to the
Read More