Meta Platforms is easing its rules around hate speech in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported on Thursday, 10 March.
According to internal emails reviewed by the agency, the tech giant will allow Facebook and Instagram users in some countries to call for violence against Russians and Russian soldiers.
It also won't take action against posts that call for death to Russian President Vladimir Putin or Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
"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 Russian invaders.' We still won't allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians."Meta statement
The policy changes reportedly apply to Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Slovakia.
"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 said, according to the agency.
Meta's 'Extremist' Activities
Such a move clearly undermines the hate speech policies that Meta – under pressure to better regulate user content – has spent years building and fine tuning.
Meta believes that "people use their voice and connect more freely when they don't feel attacked on the basis of who they are" and that hate speech "creates an environment of intimidation and exclusion, and in some cases may promote offline violence."
Even Russia has called the company out, demanding that the United States stop the "extremist activities of Meta and take measures to bring the perpetrators to justice."
"Users of Facebook and Instagram did not give the owners of these platforms the right to determine the criteria of truth and pit nations against each other," Russia's embassy in the US wrote on Twitter.
Apart from that, one would expect a social media giant with massive user-bases across the globe, to try and remain as neutral as possible when it comes to an international geopolitical conflict. Yet Meta seems to have taken this decision of its own volition.
Why Is Meta Comfortable Doing This?
Meta, under pressure from Ukraine, the United States, the European Union and most of the international community, has already picked a side in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
It began by fact-checking four Russian state-owned media outlets and put labels on their content. It also blocked the ability of these outlets to run ads or earn money on the platform. In February, it took down a network targeting Ukraine with disinformation and restricted access to RT and Sputnik across the EU.
Consequently, last week, Russia's telecoms regulator Roskomnadzor banned Facebook in the country. By now taking additional measures, like allowing hate speech against Russian forces, Facebook doesn't stand to lose much.
Instagram isn't yet banned in Russia, but it is worth noting that it has 160 million users in the United states and over 120 million users in the EU, compared to 63 million in Russia, according to Statista.
Another possible reason why Meta took this decision could be support from its own user-base. Instagram and Facebook's biggest user bases are in countries that are either neutral (like India) or supportive of Ukraine.
A survey by the Atlantic Council indicates that most people in the West support Ukraine and oppose the idea of “sacrificing” it in order to improve relations with Russia.
Plus, Meta isn't the only company to pick a side.
Several companies, headquartered in the US or allied nations, have also made moves against Russia, which is already besieged by economic sanctions.
Tech giants like Apple, Twitter, Google, Amazon and Netflix have suspended services in the country and automakers from Germany, Japan and Korea have pulled out of the market.
Last week, Cogent Communications, one of the world’s largest internet backbone providers, cut off Russia from its infrastructure for carrying internet traffic around the world.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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