You Cannot Threaten To Kill Russian President, Vladimir Putin on Facebook, Meta Says
- Facebook has warned users in Russia against threatening violence or plotting to assassinate Vladimir Putin
- The company said its relaxation of hate speech policy in three countries in Eastern Europe is only meant for Ukrainians to voice out their anger against the Russian invasion
- Meta, the parent company of Facebook said in an internal memo that the company is now focusing on telling users that its action does not condone violence against anyone
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The parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Meta says users cannot make posts or speeches calling for the death of Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin or any head of state.
The company said that reports of it relaxing its hate speech policy only applies to posts made by Ukrainians who threaten to attack Russian forces and when it concerns speech relating to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Source: Getty Images
Why Meta is making the clarification
The clarification became necessary after Reuters first reported that Meta changed its hate speech policy in Russia, Ukraine and Poland in order to allow such threats against the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko because of the invasion which enters its third week.
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According to reports by Reuters on Thursday, March 17, 2022, Facebook allowed calls for violence against Russian soldiers in those three countries and several other Eastern European countries and Western Asia.
Russia retaliates against Facebook
Russia opened a criminal inquiry against Meta on Friday, March 18, 2022, due to a change in its hate speech policy. Russia restricted users’ access to Instagram and blocked Facebook after the invasion as the social media giant limited government-affiliated media outlets on its platform.
According to an internal post on Sunday, March 20, 2022, President of Global Affairs at Meta, Nick Clegg sad is now focusing on making it very clear in its guidance that its action should not be interpreted to mean that it condones violence against Russian citizens in general.
Russia fights back, blocks access to Facebook, warns others against 'censoring'
Legit.ng has reported that regulators of media in Russia said on Friday, March 4 that it will cut off access to the social media site, Facebook in the country as it seeks to intensify its unprovoked attack on Ukraine.
According to the media watch-dog, Facebook has flouted federal law by denying access to accounts of several state-controlled media organisations, a translated version of a statement said, according to CNBC.
The action marks further crackdown from Russia against Facebook.
Source: Legit.ng
