https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/exclusive-facebook-instagram-temporarily-allow-calls-violence-against-russians-2022-03-10
March 10, 2022
March 10 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms 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 internal emails to its content moderators.
"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," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.
The calls for the leaders' deaths 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.
The temporary policy changes on calls for violence to
Russian soldiers apply to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary,
Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine, according to
one email.
In the email recently sent to moderators, Meta
highlighted a change in its hate speech policy pertaining both to Russian
soldiers and to Russians in the context of the invasion.
"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.)," it said in the email.
"We are doing this because we have observed that
in this specific context, 'Russian soldiers' is being used as a proxy for the
Russian military. The Hate Speech policy continues to prohibit attacks on
Russians," the email stated.
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, including
Twitter, which said it is restricted in the country, 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.
Meta spokesman Joe Osborne previously said the company
was "for the time being, making a narrow exception for praise of the Azov
Regiment strictly in the context of defending Ukraine, or in their role as part
of the Ukraine National Guard."
