Facebook said on Thursday it would temporarily relax its rules on so-called violent speech and allow statements such as "death to the Russian occupiers" in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but would not allow actual threats against civilians.
Moscow's internationally condemned invasion of its neighbor has forced Western nations and companies to impose unprecedented sanctions, but has also sparked outrage online.
"Due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, we have temporarily allowed forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules, such as violent language such as 'death to the Russian occupiers,'" Facebook's parent company Meta said in a statement. "However, we will continue to prevent persuasive calls for violence against Russian civilians."
Facebook's statement came after a Reuters report cited the company's emails to content moderators as saying the policy applies in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Sakartavel, Hungary, in Latvia, In Lithuania, in Poland, in Romania, Russia, Slovakia and in Ukraine.
Facebook and others JAV tech giants took measures to punish Russia for its attack on Ukraine, and Moscow also moved to block access to Facebook as well as Twitter. In doing so, Russia joined the club of a small number of countries banning the world's largest social network, which also includes China and North Korea.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine last month, Russian authorities have stepped up pressure on independent media, even as press freedoms in the country have already declined rapidly. The restrictions on Facebook and Twitter came on the same day that Russia imposed prison sentences for media outlets that published "lies" about the military.
In this context, Facebook played an important role in the dissemination of information in Russia.
Other major US tech companies, such as Apple and Microsoft, have also announced they are suspending sales of their products in Russia, while others have publicly announced "pauses" in certain business activities or relationships.
Last week, US internet service provider Cogent Communications said it had "terminated contracts with customers billing from Russia".
The Washington Post reports that Cogent has "several dozen clients in Russia, many of which, such as state-owned telecommunications giant Rostelecom, are close to the government."
That's the kind of measure Ukrainian officials have been actively campaigning for until now, asking Russia to disconnect from everything from Netflix to Instagram.
