By Munsif Vengattil and Elizabeth Culliford
March 10 (Reuters) – Meta Platforms (FB.O) will allow Facebook and Instagram users in some countries to call for violence against Russians and Russian soldiers in the context of the Ukraine invasion, according to internal emails seen by Reuters on Thursday, in a temporary change to its hate speech policy.
The social media company is also temporarily allowing some posts that call for death to Russian President Vladimir Putin or Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in countries including Russia, Ukraine and Poland, according to a series of internal emails to its content moderators.
These calls for death will be allowed unless they contain other targets or have two indicators of credibility, such as the location or method, one email said, in a recent change to the company’s rules on violence and incitement.
Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Last week, Russia said it was banning Facebook in the country in response to what it said were restrictions of access to Russian media on the platform. Moscow has cracked down on tech companies during its invasion of Ukraine, which it calls a “special operation.”
Many major social media platforms have announced new content restrictions around the conflict, including blocking Russian state media RT and Sputnik in Europe, and have demonstrated carve-outs in some of their policies during the war.
Emails also showed that Meta would allow praise of the right-wing Azov battalion, which is normally prohibited, in a change first reported by The Intercept.
Nothing against China? there the real ones who will profit from this War.Wake up and smell the Coffee liberal Imbeciles before ts too late
Indeed, my wife posted a comment that she agreed with Lindsey Graham, that Putin should be assassinated. FB took her comment down and warned her. She got one of the rare opportunities to protest the removal. Lo! and behold, her comment was RESTORED! Must be related to this.
I guess if you ban Facebook from your country (not just censor all negative comments about the government or use it to find dissidents and imprison them) is what it takes for Facebook to want you dead and allow encouragement for it to happen.