Meta has been sued by two Ethiopian researchers and a Kenyan rights group for allowing Facebook posts inciting violence in the Tigray war to proliferate on the site. One of the plaintiffs says his father, an Ethiopian academic, was the subject of racist attacks online before his murder in November 2021, and that Facebook had refused to remove the violent posts. This is Kenyan lawyer Mercy Mutemi, who filed the lawsuit.

Mercy Mutemi: “The case my clients have made is that not only do Facebook allow such content to be on the platform, they prioritize it, and they make money from such content. Why are they allowed to do that?”

The lawsuit is seeking $1.6 billion from Meta to establish a fund for victims of online hate and violence.