Social Media as Digital Evidence: A Case for Holding Perpetrators of Genocide Accountable in the 21st Century
Abstract
This thesis will examine one such example of the targeted, current anger by the international community towards Facebook as it relates to the social media platform's use in the genocide against the Rohingya population in Myanmar throughout 2017. To examine how social media activity, when coupled with digital evidence, can make a stronger case for holding perpetrators of genocide accountable, this thesis begins with a brief historical overview of genocide and the International Criminal Court (ICC). What follows will be two case studies; one historical, and one current. The historical case this thesis researches is the genocide against the Tutsi population in Rwanda, known as the Rwanda Genocide of 1994, to understand how the international community has historically held media accountable in a case of genocide. This thesis analyzes the present case of the genocide against the Rohingya in Myanmar throughout 2017, noting similarities in the hate speech rhetoric used to perpetuate genocide through media platforms. Following both studies will be an analysis on how media has been used, and is trying to be used, in various attempts to hold perpetrators of both genocides accountable, and the obstacles to these efforts. This thesis ends with an analysis of digital evidence, and the fruitful nature of such a tool in linking social media activity, today, to perpetrators of the genocide against the Rohingya in Myanmar.
Subject Area
Peace Studies|Web Studies
Recommended Citation
Giacovas, Camille, "Social Media as Digital Evidence: A Case for Holding Perpetrators of Genocide Accountable in the 21st Century" (2020). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI27958637.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI27958637
