Facebook Ordered to Release Anti-Rohingya Content [1]
On Wednesday, September 22, 2021, the District Court for the District of Columbia ordered [3] Facebook to release records of Facebook accounts linked to anti-Rohingya violence. Facebook opposed release of the data, arguing that it would violate the Stored Communications Act [4] (SCA), which prohibits e-communication service providers from knowingly releasing to the public the contents of its users' communications. Rejecting that argument and noting that "an update to the SCA is sorely needed," the Judge pointed out that the Act does permit the disclosure of deleted data--and Facebook has deleted the data. According to the judge, "[l]ocking away the requested content would be throwing away the opportunity to understand how disinformation begat genocide of the Rohingya and would foreclose a reckoning at the ICJ." The Order pointed to evidence highlighting Facebook's "powerful democratizing effect in Myanmar" and the fact that low "digital literacy" meant that "Myanmar officials were . . . able to credibly 'spread rumors about people and events' via Facebook."