Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, said a temporary change to its content management policy was necessary to allow users to express their opposition to Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
In a statement posted on Twitter, Meta Public Affairs Director Nick Clegg said the company aims to protect speech rights as the right to self-defense in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and that this exception only applies to Ukraine.
“If we implement our content policies without any modifications, we will remove the content of ordinary Ukrainians expressing resistance and anger towards invading military forces, which is seen as unacceptable,” Clegg wrote.
“We have no disagreement with the Russian people, there is absolutely no change in our policies on hate speech with respect to the Russian people,” he added.
Responding to reports that the Russian government is considering designating Meta as an extremist organization for its policies in support of speech: pic.twitter.com/Y8sUbZDSML
— Nick Clegg (@nickclegg) March 11, 2022
Russia has opened a criminal case once morest Facebook following the company said it had decided to exclude rhetoric once morest “Russian invaders” in Ukraine from its rules on banning content on the site that advocated violence and hate, and indicated that it would not remove posts once morest Russia’s military and leaders.
Russian prosecutors asked the court to classify the US tech giant as an “extremist organization”, and the Russian communications regulator said it would restrict access to Instagram from March 14, while the company said the decision would affect 80 million users in Russia.
The Russian Investigative Committee said: “A criminal case has been filed … in connection with illegal calls for murder and violence once morest citizens of the Russian Federation by employees of the American company Meta, which owns the social networks Facebook and Instagram.”
The commission reports directly to President Vladimir Putin. It was not immediately clear what the consequences of the criminal case would be.
More than two weeks into Russia’s war in Ukraine, a Meta spokesperson said Thursday that the company has temporarily changed the rules of political discourse, allowing publications such as “Death to Russian invaders”, although it will not allow calls for violence once morest Russian civilians.
Meta internal emails reported, Viewed by Archyde.com Temporary changes in policy regarding anti-Russian military postings have been implemented in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine.
The messages also showed that the US company had temporarily allowed publication of leaflets calling for the death of Putin or Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
“We hope that this is not true because if it is true, it means that decisive measures must be taken to terminate the activities of this company,” said Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman.
And last week, Russia banned Facebook on its soil in response to the California group’s decision to impose a ban in Europe on media close to the Kremlin, including especially RT and Sputnik.
With this ban, Russia joined the club of countries that ban the largest social network in the world, whose membership until that day was restricted to China and North Korea only.
Russia has also imposed severe restrictions on access to Twitter.
And last week, Russia adopted a law that punishes with imprisonment for up to 15 years anyone who publishes information aimed at “discrediting” the army or calls for sanctions once morest Moscow.
Since Russian forces began invading Ukraine, most US tech giants have severed ties with Moscow.
In this context, “Microsoft” and “Apple” suspended sales of their products in Russia, while “Netflix”, “Intel” and “Airbnb” suspended their activities in this country.
