The Gatekeepers

7. Rest of World

Listen on

Episode notes

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