Bad adopters or bad proponents of technology? Facebook and the violence against Muslims in Myanmar

Abstract

The violence towards the Rohingya people in Myanmar has been well documented, with Facebook serving as a key site for the proliferation of anti-Muslim hate speech in the country. There are differing explanations as to the extent and significance of its role in contributing to this conflict. Some analyses have cited Myanmar’s internal deficiencies, framing the country as a bad adopter of technologies. These depictions rarely consider the broader conditions of technological adoption that extend beyond Myanmar’s borders. In this paper, we connect science, technology, and innovation (STI) work and decolonial analysis to highlight how Facebook’s activities in Myanmar are better understood as inextricably linked to the utopian and ‘techno-solutionist’ narratives mobilised by companies, particularly when deploying their technology in lower-income countries. The case study of Facebook’s role in Myanmar exemplifies how developing states can become understood as scapegoats when the promises behind new technologies are not realised. These practices obscure the role that Big Tech proponents of technology can play in generating internal crises in the Global South. They illustrate how certain ways of thinking about and promoting technology can play a role in reinscribing hegemonic colonial dynamics, something that is not unique to Myanmar and can produce broader material harm.