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Facebook has now shared evidence about Myanmar atrocities with IIMM
The company had refused to share deleted data for over a year, but has finally agreed to do
Last week it became clear that Facebook was withholding evidence about atrocities in Myanmar.
Myanmar is facing charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the genocide of the Rohingya Muslim minority in 2017, which the UN called “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”
This week, Reuters heard, Facebook is sharing deleted data associated with the Myanmar military and hate speech against Rohingya from 2018 with the Independent Investigative Mechanism on Myanmar (IIMM). The tech giant had been aware of the evidence for over a year and had refused to share it with law enforcement – even in the case of genocide. The company originally said it had deleted 18 accounts and 52 pages associated with the military, including the page of its commander-in-chief.
Facebook also refused a request for data made by the Gambia earlier this month, which has filed a lawsuit against Myanmar with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague, formally accusing the country of genocide.
Speaking to Reuters, a Facebook representative said, “As these investigations proceed, we will continue to coordinate with them to provide relevant information as they investigate international crimes in Myanmar.”
The head of the IIMM confirmed they’d received a “first data set which partially complies with our previous requests” on Tuesday and is hopeful that this marks progression towards a cooperative relationship between the IIMM and Facebook, he told Reuters.