Facebook and Instagram ‘will allow posts calling for Putin’s death and violence against Russian soldiers and civilians’

Facebook will allow posts calling for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s death in a temporary change to its hate speech policy.

Instagram and Facebook users in some countries will be allowed to call for violence against Russian soldiers and civilians in the context of the Ukrainian invasion, according to internal emails seen by Reuters.

Meta, which runs the social media sites, told content moderators that posts calling for the death of the Russian President and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will also be allowed.

The temporary policy change applied to Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania.

Posts that call for Mr. Putin’s or Mr. Lukashenko’s death will only be removed if they target other individuals or if there are indications the threat is credible.

Facebook said calls for violence against prisoners of war will not be allowed.

Several social media companies previously announced new content restrictions after the Ukraine invasion including blocking Russia state media RT and Sputnik in Europe.

Russia banned Facebook last week in response to what it said were restrictions of access to Russian media on the site.

Moscow officials have also cracked down on other tech companies including Twitter as the war in Ukraine rages on.