Facebook to temporarily allow some posts calling for violence against Putin, 'Russian invaders'

In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Meta is temporarily changing its hate speech policy so Facebook and Instagram users in some countries can call for violence against Russian soldiers, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Reuters reports.

In a statement to Reuters, a Meta spokesperson said the social media company is making 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."

In an email to content moderators, Meta said that posts calling for the death of Putin or Lukashenko can be made by users in Ukraine, Russia, and Poland, but cannot contain "other targets or have two indicators of credibility, such as the location or method," Reuters reports.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Another email to content moderators says posts containing calls for violence against Russians can only stay up if it is clear users are talking about the invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reports. This temporary policy change applies to users in Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Slovakia.