Ukraine war online
Facebook allows calls for violence against Putin and Russian soldiers
03/11/2022, 02:48 am
Normally, Facebook now takes rigorous action against hate speech online. However, the company is now making an exception in the Ukraine war: users can incite violence against the Russian government and its armed forces, but civilians must remain unharmed.
The US Internet platform Facebook wants to turn a blind eye to hatred and calls for violence against the Russian government and its armed forces because of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. “Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we are lenient with political expressions such as ‘death to the Russian invaders,’ which would normally violate our rules on violent speech,” Facebook parent company Meta spokesman Andy Stone told AFP on Tuesday Thursday.
However, he qualified: “We will still not allow any credible calls for violence against Russian civilians.” Reuters initially reported on the subject. The news agency referred to internal emails from the company to the examiners of reported content.
According to the report, the special rule on the Ukraine war applies to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine is also being fought online. The West and Russia accuse each other of spreading misinformation. Supporters of the Russian invasion and opponents pour hate speech on each other. The Kremlin blocked access to Facebook last week after the group blocked pro-government Russian media such as RT and Sputnik in Europe due to EU sanctions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is also cracking down on independent media. Journalists who allegedly publish “false information” about the Russian military face lengthy prison terms. As a result, numerous media stopped reporting from Russia.
Because of Western sanctions against Putin, more and more international corporations are turning their backs on Russia. Large US technology companies such as Apple and Microsoft no longer want to sell their products there, Netflix and Airbnb have also discontinued their services.