Citing Ukraine, Facebook declares some hate speech is OK (as long as it's against the ones Facebook hates)
Posted by freedomforall 2 years, 1 month ago to Politics
Excerpt:
"When is “hate speech” not hate speech? When it’s directed against the approved targets, of course – at least according to Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, which just altered its censorship guidelines to allow calls for violence against Russians in certain countries.
“As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules like violent speech such as ‘death to the Russian invaders’,” a spokesman for Mark Zuckerberg’s social media behemoth confirmed after Reuters cited internal company emails on Thursday.
Supposedly this won’t apply to Russian civilians – though wishing death upon President Vladimir Putin of Russia and Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus are reportedly also OK now – and the special rule will only be in effect in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine. So unlike a principle, which would apply to anyone, anywhere, these new carve-outs apply only against specific groups and in specific territories.
Would Meta create this exception for, say, Syria, Iran, Iraq, or Libya to allow calls for violence against Americans? Of course not. How about in Yemen, against the Saudis or Emiratis mercilessly bombing and occupying parts of the country since 2015? Not a chance. But hating Russians? That’s not just allowed, it’s encouraged – one might even say expected – in the West that has already banned Russian music, literature, and even cats. "
"When is “hate speech” not hate speech? When it’s directed against the approved targets, of course – at least according to Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, which just altered its censorship guidelines to allow calls for violence against Russians in certain countries.
“As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules like violent speech such as ‘death to the Russian invaders’,” a spokesman for Mark Zuckerberg’s social media behemoth confirmed after Reuters cited internal company emails on Thursday.
Supposedly this won’t apply to Russian civilians – though wishing death upon President Vladimir Putin of Russia and Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus are reportedly also OK now – and the special rule will only be in effect in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine. So unlike a principle, which would apply to anyone, anywhere, these new carve-outs apply only against specific groups and in specific territories.
Would Meta create this exception for, say, Syria, Iran, Iraq, or Libya to allow calls for violence against Americans? Of course not. How about in Yemen, against the Saudis or Emiratis mercilessly bombing and occupying parts of the country since 2015? Not a chance. But hating Russians? That’s not just allowed, it’s encouraged – one might even say expected – in the West that has already banned Russian music, literature, and even cats. "
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