“We feel unsafe when we go to sleep. We fear someone will come and attack the village and attack us too.” [3] These are the words of Bitate, an Indigenous community leader of the Uru Eu Wau Wau people. Bitate and his community live in the Amazon and are also trying to protect it. He says Facebook should take responsibility for what it’s doing.
But Facebook is doing the opposite and passing the blame onto Brazilian authorities. The big problem with this is that in practice, it simply doesn’t work. Land grabbers can steal, destroy and sell protected Amazon land without fear. IBAMA, the federal agency that should have the power to fine and arrest loggers and farmers for breaking the law, have had their inspection budgets cut. The former head of the agency has gone on record to say “environmental crime is now free of charge." [4] To make things worse, the Brazilian Congress aims to approve new legislation that will reward land grabbers and encourage more deforestation and invasions in protected lands.
Facebook is helping to connect illegal land grabbers to millions of potential buyers, but it doesn’t have to be this way. They have the power to immediately ban and disable all sales of protected Amazon land on their platform. They also have the power to block and remove users involved in this criminal and harmful activity. Can you sign the petition and call on Facebook to take swift action?
