The parent company of Facebook, Meta Platforms Inc. reiterated on Sunday that it is against their user rules to post hateful posts against a sovereign leader, or posts that contain killing the head of a state. Indirect reference to Vladimir Putin, the Russian President.
For a few days as a special gesture for Ukrainians, Facebook had given them permission to post updates of the ongoing war in Ukraine and let Ukrainians express freely against Russia. However, this relaxation of policy increased confusion as to what was permitted and what wasn’t allowed on both the platforms of Facebook and Instagram.
President of Global Affairs for Meta, Nick Clegg stated on Friday, “We aim to protect the rights of Ukrainians; however, we will not allow or tolerate any hateful speeches, discrimination or verbal violence upon Russians.”
He further in his internal post (screened by Bloomberg) to the employees added, “We will zero in on the list of dos and don’ts for users and will make everything super clear that we will not accept any hateful speeches against Russians. It is for the first time that we have a challenging situation like this and it’s a special case for Ukrainians to speak against Russia, as Putin invaded Ukraine on 24th February and is continuing his advance throughout Ukraine.”
Clegg reiterated, “Any posts or public announcements of bringing down the head of a state will not be permitted.” He stated this policy, however, kept Putin’s name out of announcements.
Putin also directed Russian communication officials to block Facebook and Instagram for almost 2 weeks in tandem with Meta Platform’s directives. Meta also had completely restricted access to Russian state-run media user accounts in Ukraine and the EU and has halted all marketing and advertising from Russian companies and businesses.
