Facebook Becomes A Nest Of Harassment And Violence For Global Land Activists

There were more than 200 activists surveyed and 90 percent of them said they had experienced various online harassment and violence. However, Facebook isn't the only platform that harms activists.

Global Witness statistics show that X, formerly known as Twitter, WhatsApp, and Instagram, is also a suggestion of harassment and violence. Of the four platforms, Facebook ranks worst.

Data shows that social media from Meta dominates. About 62 percent of participants experienced harassment on Facebook, followed by 37 percent of X, 36 percent of WhatsApp, and 26 percent of Instagram.

"The statistic really has an impression on my memory. The statistics are much higher than we expected," said Ava Lee, Head of the Global Witness Digital Threat Campaign Strategy, quoted from The Verge on Saturday, July 26.

The problem of harassment and violence experienced by land activists around the world is in line with the push for freedom of speech on social media. Recently, Meta stopped the fact-checking program from third parties that could limit user posts.

Instead, they switched to a feature initiated by X, namely Community Records, to encourage free speech. According to Global Witness Senior Campaigner Hannah Sharpe, this is an irony because free speech actually silences them.

One of them was experienced by Fatrisia Ain, a collective leader of local women from Indonesia. He stated that his group is trying to protect the land of farmers confiscated by palm oil companies and overcome the problem of river pollution in the region.

Instead of getting support, they were accused of being communists. Ain attempted to delete the post of another party who attacked her by reporting the matter to Facebook, but this action was unsuccessful.

"They say it's not dangerous, so they can't delete it. It's dangerous. I hope Meta understands, in Indonesia, it's dangerous," Ain said.

In response to this report, Meta Spokesperson Tracy Clayton encourages users to take advantage of the tools they already provide on their platform to help provide personal protection. For example, such as the Hidden Words or Limits feature.

While users take advantage of existing features, Meta promises to review Facebook posts targeting Ain and other activists.