Social media giant has lifted usual ban on posts inciting violence – including against Russian civilians
Social media giant Facebook has lifted its usual ban on its platforms against incitement to violence to allow users to call for the killing and injuring of Russian soldiers – but also against Russians generally, including civilians.
The new rule put in place by Facebook’s owner Meta is now seeing explicit calls for the murder of Vladimir Putin, the Russian head of state – including calls for billionaires in his own country to fund his assassination, such as this post circulating on both Facebook and Instagram:
Putin is a despot, but the UK and US support many despots around the world and until recently were more than happy to be cosy with Putin and people close to him. And imagine the horror and handwringing if such a call was put out against the life of the UK or US leader, let alone the impact that the rule changes may have on any hopes of peace in the near future. The need to prevent incitement is frequently used as cover for government plans to restrict inconvenient free speech on social media platforms, but now it seems that at least some Western governments are either condoning or actively encouraging it when it suits them.
Russia has responded by designating Meta an ‘extremist’ organisation and opening a criminal case against it.
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