Facebook owner Meta Platforms said Sunday it was tightening its content restraint policy to limit Ukraine’s call for the president’s death, according to an insider company post seen by Reuters.
Reuters reported last week that the move came after Meta temporarily allowed some posts on Facebook and Instagram calling for the death of Russian President Vladimir Putin or Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Following a Reuters report, Meta said on Friday that a temporary change in its content policy, applicable only to Ukraine, was needed to allow users to oppose the Russian attack. On the same day, Russia opened a criminal case against the social media firm.
Nick Clegg, president of Meta Global Affairs, wrote in a post on the company’s internal platform on Sunday, “We are now narrowing the focus on the guidelines to make it clear that violence against Russians in general can never be interpreted as violence.” Reuters has seen.
“We do not even allow a call to assassinate a head of state … So, to eliminate any ambiguity about our position, we are further narrowing our guidelines to make it clear that we are not allowing a call to assassinate a head of state. States on platforms, ”Clegg said.
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of regular business hours.
Clegg said that as far as the Russian people are concerned, there will be no change in the policy of hate speech.
“Meta stands against Russophobia. We have no tolerance for calling for genocide, ethnic cleansing or any kind of discrimination, harassment or violence against Russians on our platform,” he said.
Clegg writes that Meta plans to point out ways to adapt to the independent supervisory board the direction that content regulators provide, which was set up to help the platform answer the most difficult questions about freedom of expression.
Russia’s communications regulator Meter has imposed restrictions on Instagram, effective Monday. Meta had previously restricted access to Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik to its platforms across the European Union.
Thomson Reuters 2022