Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of efforts by (a) Facebook and (b) other social media websites to combat the proliferation of hate speech directed against Muslim minorities in Myanmar.

​The Government continues to be deeply concerned by hate speech against minorities in Burma, including Muslims, Christians, and particularly the Rohingya. The Government welcomes Facebook's decision to remove accounts and ban individuals and organisations following publication of the report of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Burma. Our Embassy works with local partners in Burma to tackle hate speech and misinformation online. Our Ambassador discussed the impact of social media on intercommunal relations, and the necessity of interfaith dialogues in his meeting with the Minister for Religious Affairs on 9 August.