Meta Platform Inc. will allow Facebook and Instagram users in several countries to issue posts condemning military violence and Russia’s aggression on Ukraine.
The statement was taken from an internal email by Reuters describing a temporary policy change for the hate speech policy.
The social media giant will also allow several posts ‘calling’ for the deaths of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in allied countries including Moscow, Ukraine and Poland.
However, the post calling for the leader’s death cannot contain other targets or have 2 indicators of credibility such as location and method.
The temporary policy changes were enforced in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Russia and Ukraine.
For the record, last week the Russian side banned the use of Facebook in its country in response to Russian media access restrictions.
It is common knowledge that Russia has imposed crackdowns on technology companies including Twitter, which restricted its use in the country, during the invasion of Ukraine.
Many social media giant platforms have announced content restrictions against Russia including blocking the country’s media, RT and Sputnik in Europe.
In the meantime, the email also stated the permission to praise the right-wing Azov battalion which is usually banned.
According to Meta spokesman Joe Osborne, the company currently makes exceptions for the Azov Regiment strictly in the context of defending Ukraine or their role as Ukraine’s National Guard.
