7. Rest of World

7. Rest of World

From Everything Is Fake by BBC Radio 4

March 18, 2024 · 31 min · Season 1 · Episode 7

About this episode

Jamie Bartlett explores the story of Abrham Meareg Amare, who seeks asylum in the U.S. after his father's murder linked to social media negligence.

Jamie Bartlett travels to Minnesota to meet Abrham Meareg Amare. The young academic is seeking asylum in the States following the murder of his father in Ethiopia in 2021. In December 2022, Abrham became the lead complainant in a $2 billion lawsuit against Meta. Abrham believes that company is partly responsible for the death of his dad - a renowned chemistry professor - who was slandered and doxxed on Facebook, before being shot outside his home. Abrham says he reported the posts multiple times but they were not taken down, until eight days after the killing. Jamie meets the Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, who tells him that her decision to leak Meta's internal documents was driven by grave concerns about the way Meta operates in the Global South. Producer: Caitlin Smith Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore Story Consultant: Kirsty Williams Composer: Jeremy Warmsley Senior Producer: Peter McManus Commissioned by Dan Clarke for BBC Radio 4. Archive: C:Span, October 2021 New episodes released on Mondays. If you’re in the UK, listen to the latest episodes of The Gatekeepers, first on BBC Sounds: bbc.in/3Ui661u

People in this episode

Host: Jamie Bartlett

Guest: Abrham Meareg Amare

Topics covered

  • asylum
  • social media
  • violence
  • whistleblowing
  • global issues

Keywords

  • asylum
  • Meta
  • Frances Haugen
  • Ethiopia
  • social media
  • violence
  • whistleblower

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Meta

Books & works: The Gatekeepers

Places: Minnesota, Ethiopia

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