Social media firms asked to stand up against Myanmar military junta, how can IP help？

The panel of experts have urged, social media companies to help prevent this human rights abuse as they feel they can do better to monitor these accounts that are committing these human rights violations on their online platforms. Social media companies are now working with local law enforcement to help them solve crimes in many countries.

“The situation in Myanmar highlights the issue that social media companies must face in regard to balancing the freedom of expression as well as monitoring the content,” says Govind Kumar Chaturvedi, a social media law, privacy, and IP expert. “A huge factor in the reluctance to monitor content is the intermediary liability protection, The Manila Principles on Intermediary Liability, developed by expert organizations including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Centre for Internet and Society in India, and Article 19, shield intermediaries from liability of content posted by third parties to protect the freedom of expression. It is among very few documents that has incorporated opinions from different corners of the world in a single uniform code. A clear exception is that if the intermediary makes a modification to the third-party content. Hence, in order to avoid liability Intermediaries, choose to not interfere with the content being posted.”

He adds, “Recently Telegeram has banned 13 pro military accounts, so the experts suggest that content in Burmese language should be monitored in conjunction with local organizations, Facebook in 2021 has also banned the military page. Social media need to invest in new technological advancements to make their platforms more secure, recent developments such as in AI technology and adherence to new privacy laws would be a great leverage in this regard. Social media platforms should work on acquiring patents about social media as well as developing the technology in social media to make it more in line with its moral and public obligations.”