Facebook and Instagram posts calling for Vladimir Putin's death - and violence against Russian soldiers - are going to be temporarily allowed in some countries, according to Reuters.
Meta, which owns both social networks, has reportedly sent emails to moderators that explain the company is making "allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules".
The encouragement of violence against Russian civilians will continue to be prohibited - and posts calling for the president's death will be deleted if they contain other targets or discuss a location or method.
...The temporary policy only applies to users in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine, according to the news agency's report.
An email seen by Reuters told moderators: "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-defence, etc.)"
The message went on to explain that the rules are being changed because "Russian soldiers" is being used as a proxy for the military in relation to this invasion.
Meta said: "In light of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, we made a temporary exception for those affected by war to express sentiments towards invading armed forces such as ''death to the Russian invaders'.
"These are temporary measures designed to preserve voice and expression for people who are facing invasion. As always, we are prohibiting calls for violence against Russians outside of the narrow context of the current invasion."
