Facebook Parent Meta Temporarily Eases Rules, Allows Posts That Call For Violence Against Russian Invaders

Meta has decided to temporarily ease its rules pertaining to violent speech following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and allow statements that call for harm.

Facebook Parent Meta Temporarily Eases Rules, Allows Posts That Call For Violence Against Russian Invaders/Getty

New Delhi: Facebook parent Meta has decided to temporarily ease its rules pertaining to violent speech following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and allow statements that call for harm such as "death to Russian invaders", however no credible threats against civilians. According to a report published in The New York Times, the policy applies to people using the social networking giant's services in Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.

"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.' We still won't allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians," a Meta spokesperson was quoted as saying in a statement by news agency Reuters.

The calls for the leaders' deaths like Russian President Vladimir Putin or Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenk will be allowed only unless they contain other targets or have two indicators of credibility, such as the location or method, in a recent change to Meta's rules on violence and incitement.

Meanwhile, earlier in late February, as part of its ongoing efforts amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Meta Platforms Inc had banned several state-run accounts from Russia from monetising on the platform and from running advertisements from anywhere in the world. The social networking giant had also mentioned that it was reviewing requests from other governments to bar access to Russian state-controlled accounts in their countries.