Muslim Rights Group files lawsuit against Facebook for serving anti-Muslim hate group
The civil rights organization Muslim advocates for the past eight years has reported scores of examples of bigotry and hate promoted across Facebook. It has published reports and met privately with CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his number two, Sheryl Sandberg, about its concerns.
On Thursday Muslim Advocate filed a consumer protection lawsuit against Facebook, Zuckerberg, and Sandberg, among other officials, demanding the social network start taking anti-Muslim activity more seriously.
” What we’re saying in the lawsuit to Facebook is, do one of two things: Stop lying, or have your actions confirm your statement,” Muslim Advocates lawyer Mary Bauer said.
The suit cites research from Elon University professor Megan Squire, who found that anti-Muslim bias serves “as a common denominator among hate groups around the world” on Facebook.
A year earlier, Muslim Advocates provided Facebook a list of 26 anti-Muslim hate groups. Nineteen of them remain active today, according to the suit. Those include groups with obvious names like “Anti-Islam Movement,” “Purge Worldwide,” and “Islam is Pure Evil.”
In its lawsuit, Muslim Advocates says that is not the case, arguing that there is a “systemic problem of anti-Muslim hate” on Facebook.
The suit also names Facebook public policy executives Joel Kaplan and Kevin Martin as defendants for allegedly aiding and abetting misleading statements in helping Zuckerberg and Sandberg prepare remarks to Congress.
