Meta Is An 'Extremist Organization' For Temporarily Allowing Death Calls On Vladimir Putin

People may have different opinions regarding wars. But most people should know that wars can cost lives, political tensions, and lots of blood and tears that can last for generations.

While some sided with Ukraine, some sided with Russia, while others remain neutral, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, goes aggressive by temporarily allowing hate speech.

In an update to Facebook's community standards, Meta makes exceptions for the "ongoing conflict" between Russia and Ukraine.

In the update, Meta allows users in some countries, like Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania, to post content that’s usually forbidden, including calls for harm or even the death of Russian soldiers or politicians.

Facebook and Instagram are even allowing the praise of the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, "strictly in the context of defending Ukraine."

Vladimir Putin, Mark Zuckerberg
Russia's President Vladimir Putin (left), and Meta' CEO Mark Zuckerberg (right).

The calls for the death of Russian President Vladimir Putin or Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is also allowed.

That, as long as they don’t "other targets or have two indicators of credibility, such as the location or method," as reported by Reuters.

The updated policy said that:

"We are issuing a spirit-of-the-policy allowance to allow T1 violent speech that would otherwise be removed under the Hate Speech policy when: (a) targeting Russian soldiers, EXCEPT prisoners of war, or (b) targeting Russians where it’s clear that the context is the Russian invasion of Ukraine (e.g., content mentions the invasion, self-defense, etc.)."

And according to Meta spokesperson Andy Stone:

"As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules like violent speech such as ‘death to the Russian invaders.’ We still won’t allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians."

The move is aimed to allow forms of political expression that would normally violate its rules.

It's worth noting that Facebook community standards regarding hate speech and violence and incitement are always receiving updates, which may change from time to time according to the trends and needs.

And this change in allowing users to post hate speech, is one unique move by the social media giant.

Read: Russia-Ukraine War On The Internet: Between Cyberattacks To Censorship, Encrypted Messages And More

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Roskomnadzor office
A sign near the front doors of the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) building in Moscow, Russia. (Credit: AP)

Facebook and Instagram are widely used in Russia, with the latter being the most popular social media platform for young Russians.

This is why Meta's change in policy is considered a threat.

Following the news, Russia that has started censoring Facebook and Instagram since early March 2022, is opening a criminal case against the social titan.

Kremlin starts to designate Meta as an "extremist organization."

"A criminal case has been initiated [...] in connection with illegal calls for murder and violence against citizens of the Russian Federation by employees of the American company Meta, which owns the social networks Facebook and Instagram," Russia's Investigative Committee said.

The committee reports directly to President Vladimir Putin.

"Such actions of the company's management not only form an idea that terrorist activity is permissible, but are aimed at inciting hatred and enmity towards the citizens of the Russian Federation," the prosecutors said.

And concerning posts that call for the death of Putin and Lukashenko, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov hopes that it is not true, "because if it is true then it will mean that there will have to be the most decisive measures to end the activities of this company," he said.

The United Nations human rights office also said the change in Facebook policy was "concerning," despite the move is said to be temporary.

Following the change in Meta's policy, Director General of the Russian space program has even compared Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey to Nazis in a tweet.

Dmitry Rogozin shared a picture, which depicts the two tech executives in Nazi uniform with the swastika replaced with the logos of their respective companies.

And in response to the backlash, former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Meta's President for Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, has something to say: