Jack Dorsey—Promoted tourism to Myanmar while Rohingya genocide was ongoing
In December 2018, Jack Dorsey posted tweets encouraging followers to visit Myanmar after a birthday meditation retreat, praising the country's people and food. This occurred while the UN had accused Myanmar's military of pursuing genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority. The posts sparked widespread backlash under the hashtag #JackIgnoresGenocide. Dorsey did not publicly address the controversy.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Humanitarian Aid & Global Health | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.322 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (medium ×1) × confidence (0.64)× agency (negligent ×0.5)
Evidence (2 signals)
Al Jazeera reported widespread backlash over Dorsey's Myanmar tourism promotion
Al Jazeera reported on the widespread backlash against Dorsey for promoting tourism to Myanmar while the country faced accusations of genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority, noting that Twitter itself had been used as a platform for anti-Rohingya hate speech.
Dorsey tweeted encouragement to visit Myanmar during ongoing Rohingya genocide
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey posted tweets praising Myanmar after a birthday meditation retreat, saying 'The people are full of joy and the food is amazing,' while a UN fact-finding mission had recently accused Myanmar's military of genocide against the Rohingya. The backlash spawned the hashtag #JackIgnoresGenocide.