Facebook has removed a post by Ethiopia’s Prime Minister that incited citizens to rise up and “bury'” their rival, Tigray forces, as the country’s war reaches the one-year mark.
A spokesperson for Facebook’s parent company, Meta, noted that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s post violated the platform’s policies against inciting and supporting violence, hence, it was taken off from the platform.
In the now-deleted post, Prime Minister Abiy wrote that “The obligation to die for Ethiopia belongs to all of us”, and called on citizens to mobilize “by holding any weapon or capacity”.
The latest action has not stopped the Prime Minister as he keeps posting on the social media platform where he has 3.5 million followers.
Meanwhile, the United States and others have warned Ethiopia about “dehumanizing” after the Prime Minister in July described the Tigray forces as “cancer” and “weeds”.
Facebook set staff to detect hate and violent speech
In an interview, Meta spokeswoman, Cain declined to say how many staffers they have on the ground in Ethiopia or dedicated to detecting violent speech in Ethiopia on its platform. However, she noted that the company has the capability to review posts in Somali, Amharic, Oromo, and Tigrinya. She also said it has a team that includes people from Ethiopia or who have spent time in the country.
However, Berhan Taye, a researcher in digital rights based in Kenya who tracks social media in Ethiopia and regularly escalates questionable posts to the Facebook platform, revealed last week that the platform wasn’t moderating in the Tigrinya language, as of April 2021.
Berhan Taye disclosed that overall, in Ethiopia, if you report [posts] on the platform, it’s very highly likely to get no reply at all.
“From the amount, we escalate, and the number of replies we get, that tells you their internal system is really limited”.
- Prez Buhari Calls for Peace, Stability in Ethiopia As PM Ahmed Begins Second Term amid Wars
- Ethiopia: Hundreds of unarmed civilians massacred in Axum during Tigray war- Amnesty
Facebook removes posts of other world leaders
Meanwhile, this is not the first time Facebook has removed posts published by world leaders. Earlier this year, the company deleted a video from U.S. President Donald Trump in which he peddled false claims about election fraud following a deadly skirmish at the U.S. Capitol. Facebook said at the time that the video contributed to “the risk of ongoing violence”.
Just last week, the tech platform pulled a live broadcast from Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro because he made false claims about the COVID-19 vaccines.
Nigeria’s President, Mahamadu Buhari was also involved in a similar case but this time around, it was on Twitter.
It can be recalled that Twitter deleted President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet where he threatened to deal with secessionists “in the language they understand”. The social media giant said the tweet violated Twitter Rules. Subsequently, the Federal Government of Nigeria suspended indefinitely the operations of the microblogging and social networking service in the country.
Read also: UTAG-Legon Calls on Authorities to Investigate Mensah Sarbah and Commonwealth Hall Clash
