The curators of Facebook and Instagram have decided to temporarily allow its users in certain regions to voice their displeasure with the largest country in Europe in a violent manner if they choose to do to so.
Normally calls for violence would be considered a direct breach of Facebook and Instagram’s hate speech relegations, but Russia’s acts of war against the will of the Ukrainian people have led officials at the Metaverse headquarters to lift a few of their restrictions for a limited time only.
“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,'” said a Meta rep on Thursday. “We still won’t allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians.”
In response to Meta’s decision to adjust its hate speech policy, Russian prosecutors have asked a court to officially label Facebook and Instagram as extremist groups. To that, a Meta rep reiterated that the company simply wanted to allow its users to have a platform where they could speak out freely against invading armed forces. With rumors swirling that Russia intends to cut itself off from all of the major social media platforms in the Western world, it is clear that there is still no love lost between Russian officials and the curators at Meta.