Finland’s decision to temporarily allow hate speech against Russian soldiers in Eastern European countries angered Russia. In addition to Facebook and Twitter, Instagram is also disappearing from the reach of the Russians.
The Russian public prosecutor has launched an investigation into Meta, a company that owns Facebook and Instagam services, and its employees. The accusation is about “illegal calls for killing of Russians”.
The prosecutor is demanding that some giant be classified as extremist. With the classification as an extreme organization, the Instagram service favored by Russians will also be closed.
Russia has already restricted the operation of some platforms during its attack. Since the beginning of March, Facebook and Twitter services have not been accessed in Russia.
Russia has long stepped up its efforts against Alphabet’s Google and Twitter platforms. They have been fined for distributing “illegal content”.
No direct information has been received from the news agency Reuters about the legal consequences of the new legal process against Meta.
According to it, the messaging service WhatsApp is still allowed to operate in Russia.
Western saucers are placed
Russian authorities are now finalizing the decommissioning of Western soda platforms. It is becoming increasingly difficult for Russians to access information that deviates from the official line.
Moscow is now appealing against Meta’s decision to allow hate speech on its platforms from the Russian invasion.
Russia has also reacted strongly to Meta’s policy in the United States, where the company’s headquarters are located.
Russia’s U.S. embassy urged Washington to stop the “extremist activities” of the Meta company behind Facebook. The delegation called Meta’s activities “aggressive and criminal.”
The attack made Meta allow hate speech
The company’s decision is based on Russia’s war in Ukraine. Relying on it, the Facebook-owned Meta company exceptionally decided to allow incitement to violence against Russian soldiers.
According to a Meta spokesman, due to the Russian attack, the company has temporarily decided to allow expressions that would normally be banned as hate speech. Such is, for example, the “death of the Russian conquerors.”
However, the company does not allow hate speech against Russian civilians or prisoners of war.
Reuters: Intimidation of state leaders was also allowed
Some giants keep the algorithms that control their content as their trade secrets. The way in which moderation of companies applying public principles often works is also overshadowed.
According to Reuters, the easing of the ban on hate speech has been extended to comment on the presidents of Russia and Belarus.
According to an internal exchange of Facebook moderators seen by Reuters, some giant has decided to temporarily allow the president Vladimir Putin and the leader of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko wishes for their death.
The temporary exception to the hate speech rule made by Facebook applies to Ukraine, Russia, the Baltics and other countries of the former Soviet Union, as well as Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania.
Thus, the mitigation of hate speech is not valid, for example, in Finland or elsewhere in Western Europe.