In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Meta is temporarily changing its hate speech policy so Facebook and Instagram users in some countries can call for violence against Russian soldiers, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Reuters reports.
In a statement to Reuters, a Meta spokesperson said the social media company is making 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.”
In an email to content moderators, Meta said that posts calling for the death of Putin or Lukashenko can be made by users in Ukraine, Russia, and Poland, but cannot contain “other targets or have two indicators of credibility, such as the location or method,” Reuters reports.
Another email to content moderators says posts containing calls for violence against Russians can only stay up if it is clear users are talking about the invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reports. This temporary policy change applies to users in Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Slovakia.
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