Facebook will temporarily allow posts calling for violence against Russians

Meta will allow some Facebook and Instagram posts calling for death of President Putin

Facebook on a smartphone in Moscow, Russia, on February 25, 2022. AP

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Meta 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, internal emails seen by Reuters on Thursday show.

In a temporary change to its hate speech policy, the social media company is also temporarily allowing some posts that call for death to President Vladimir Putin or Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in countries including Russia, Ukraine and Poland, the emails to content moderators show.

These calls 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 emails said calls for violence against Russians are allowed when the post is clearly talking about the invasion of Ukraine.

They said the calls for violence against Russian soldiers were allowed because this was being used as a proxy for the Russian military, and said it would not apply to prisoners of war.

The temporary policy changes apply to Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Russia and Ukraine.

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 ws restricted in the country, during its invasion of Ukraine, which it calls a "special operation".

A woman holds a dog while crossing the Irpin River on an improvised path under a bridge as people flee the town of Irpin, Ukraine. AP

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".

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