New York Times report outlines fatal effects of FB newsfeeds in developing nations

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A new report by the New York times outlines the fatal effects of Facebook's newsfeed in developing countries where misinformation and hate speech allegedly fuel real-world attacks -- and the social media giant is accused of doing nothing to ease the tensions.

The New York Times writes that in Sri Lanka "local media are displaced by Facebook and governments find themselves with little leverage over the company" when users are caught up in online anger. For months, the paper has tracked riots and lynchings around the world tied to Facebook.

The newspaper reports other violent tendencies have occurred in rural Indonesia, India and Mexico, writing that lynching is one way residents "take matters into their own hands" when "people do not feel they can rely on the police or courts to keep the safe." The paper's investigation says that those lynchings are often filmed, uploaded back to Facebook and then go viral.

As the social media platform goes full steam ahead in expanding worldwide, analysts say violence may soon follow.

Sri Lanka's head of public information, Sudarshana Gunawardana, told the New York Times he "felt a sense of helplessness" when Facebook became popular in the nation that he serves.

"There needs to be some kind of engagement with countries like Sri Lanka by big companies who look at us only as markets," Gunawardana said. "We're a society, we're not just a market."

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