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The time of doubts
Freedom of speech is a political choice, and while I held it as a higher value, some facts brought me to falter. Do you remember the recent issue with the Rohingyas in Myanmar](https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/monde/asie/ashin-wirathu-moine-bouddhiste-on-l-appelle-le-hitler-birman_1915393.html)?
A bit of background: the country, which had been tightly locked up for decades under military rule, had just opened up to the internet. One of the first players to enter this new territory was Facebook, which offered zero-rating. Thus sponsored, its service was a lightning success in the country.
In this drama, Facebook had played a central role, allowing a nationalist Buddhist monk to stir up ethnic hatred in the country, leading to persecution (euphemism) and the exodus of hundreds of thousands of non-Buddhist citizens.
Facebook had the capacity to censor these calls to hatred and avoid the drama, but presumably due to a lack of Burmese-speaking moderators, it failed to do so. This failure is now being sued by Rohingya victims.
So here’s the question: is absolute freedom of expression worth fighting for? That’s why I’ve put the PeerStorage project on hold.
*A nod to Raymond Devos in the title of the article.