Mark Zuckerberg: Stop Facebook Fueling Violence and Death in Ethiopia

Right now your algorithms are amplifying violence and hatred, and fueling a violent war in Ethiopia. We call on you immediately to:

• Adjust your algorithms to prioritise safety and slow the spread of hateful, violence-inciting posts
• Employ enough content moderators in local languages - and treat those  workers with respect and care
• Be fully transparent about what measures you are taking in Ethiopia - including publishing internal risk assessments and plans for harm prevention measures.
• Roll out emergency measures you have used before in the US, to slow the spread of hate on Facebook in Ethiopia.

Right now, dangerous social media content is fanning the flames of hatred, contributing to thousands of deaths in the war in Ethiopia. We’re calling on the leaders of Facebook to act against online hate and incitement to violence.

Over a year ago, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen warned, in testimony to US Senators, that Meta’s platforms are “literally fanning ethnic violence” in Ethiopia. Twelve months ago, Facebook’s own oversight board recommended that Meta commissioned “an independent human rights due diligence assessment on how Facebook and Instagram have been used to spread hate speech and unverified rumours that heighten the risk of violence in Ethiopia”. Yet Meta has still failed to act.

Brave human rights defenders, Fisseha Tekle, Abrham Meareg, and the Katiba Institute, are taking Facebook to court to demand urgent action to save lives. However, there is no need for Facebook to await the outcome of that court case to implement measures to prevent further harm in Ethiopia. We stand with them and call on you to stop profiting from the spread of hateful material, and to take responsible decisions which provide users with social media platforms which connect us, rather than dividing us.