Social media is the new frontier for reporting and gathering evidence on hate,
extremism and human rights violations. The UC Berkeley Human Rights Center
Investigations Lab has worked with journalists from Reuters and the Associated
Press as well as UN fact finders to find, verify, analyze and present open source
information uploaded to social media involving violence against the Rohingya in
Myanmar. This Pulitzer-prize-winning work most recently involved the HRC
Investigations Lab working with the Associated Press to scour thousands of social
media posts to find evidence of specific crimes, which was then shared with both
reporters and UN fact-finders.
This panel discusses how students, open source investigators, journalists, activists
and lawyers are collaborating in new ways to use digital information to uncover hate
speech and international crimes in Myanmar and around the world. This panel also
addresses whether there are more effective ways for reporters and pro bono
counsel to work together while preserving appropriate confidentiality.