Meta will now allow Facebook and Instagram users to call for violence against Putin and Russia. These types of posts will only be possible in some countries and the context of the Ukraine invasion. Meta generally doesn’t allow these kinds of posts, but this will be an exception.
The social media company will also allow users to temporarily ‘call for the death’ of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. These types of posts also extend towards Russian soldiers and politicians.
This will be a temporary change to Meta’s hate speech policy due to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Facebook Vs Russia
Reuters was the first to verify this information by citing Meta’s internal emails to moderators. However, they still won’t allow for any credible calls for violence. Meaning these posts will be allowed as long as they do not contain credibility indicators, such as saying where or how the act will take place.
“As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules like violent speech such as ‘death to the Russian invaders. We still won’t allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians.”
Meta spokesperson
Meta has previously allowed such a change in certain earlier cases, such as Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader. This policy change is applicable in the following countries:
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Estonia
- Georgia
- Hungary
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Poland
- Romania
- Russia
- Slovakia
- Ukraine
Meta emails to Facebook and Instagram moderators mentioned the change in its hate speech policy concerning Russia.
We are issuing a spirit-of-the-policy allowance to allow T1 violent speech that would otherwise be removed under the Hate Speech policy when: (a) targeting Russian soldiers, EXCEPT prisoners of war, or (b) targeting Russians where it’s clear that the context is the Russian invasion of Ukraine (e.g., content mentions the invasion, self-defense, etc.).
Meta’s message to Facebook and Instagram moderators
