Meta is facing growing calls to set up a restitution

Meta is facing growing calls to set up a restitution fund for victims of the Tigray War, which Facebook is alleged to have fueled leading to over 600,000 deaths and the displacement of millions across Ethiopia.

 

Rights group Amnesty International, in a new report, has urged Meta to set up a fund, which will also benefit other victims of conflict around the world, amidst heightened fears that the social site’s presence in “high-risk and conflict-affected areas” could “fuel advocacy of hatred and incite violence against ethnic and religious minorities” in new regions. Amnesty International’s report outlines how “Meta contributed to human rights abuses in Ethiopia.”

 

The renewed push for reparation comes just as a case in Kenya, in which Ethiopians are demanding a $1.6 billion settlement from Meta for allegedly fueling the Tigray War, resumes next week. Amnesty International is an interested party in the case.

 

Amnesty International has also asked Meta to expand its content moderating capabilities in Ethiopia by including 84 languages from the four it currently covers, and publicly acknowledge and apologize for contributing to human rights abuses during the war. The Tigray War broke out in November 2020 and lasted for two years after conflict between the federal government of Ethiopia, Eritrea and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) escalated in the Northern region of the East African country.