While I make it a practice to rarely quote anything from the dinosaur media since a great deal of their reportage is inaccurate, I will make a temporary change in my policy to quote a very recent announcement from Reuters given its importance.
Here is the article:
According to the Reuters article, Facebook and Instagram are temporarily allowing the following for users in Russia, Ukraine and Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary:
1.) posts that call for the deaths of Russian President Vladimir Putin
2.) Posts that call for the deaths of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko
These posts will be allowed unless they contain other targets or have two indicators of credibility including the method or location of assassination.
In addition, posts that call for violence against Russians will also be allowed when the posting is clearly about the invasion of Ukraine.
Facebook's parent company, Meta, will also temporarily allow its users to praise the Azov battalion, a Ukrainian neo-Nazi/far-right all-volunteer infantry military unit which is accused of harbouring white supremacist ideology and whose members often wear Nazi symbols. The group was accused of violating international humanitarian law by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OCHA) as shown in this report:
"Another major concern is the ongoing presence of military forces in civilian areas and indiscriminate shelling continue to be the main factors endangering civilians, and affects their ability to access housing, land and property. During the reporting period, OHCHR collected detailed information about the conduct of hostilities by Ukrainian armed forces and the Azov regiment in and around Shyrokyne (31km east of Mariupol), from the summer of 2014 to date. Mass looting of civilian homes was documented, as well as targeting of civilian areas between September 2014 and February 2015. Residents displaced to Mariupol have received little assistance and information about the status of their homes. Unable to return but for short periods of time to examine the damage, IDPs from Shyrokyne exchange video footage and photographs to try to track the condition of their homes."
...and here:
“We decide what you should do, do you hear?”
- Member of ‘Azov’-affiliated activist group to Kharkiv Regional Court of Appeal judge during hearing
...and here:
"In May 2014, members of the “Azov” battalion, who claimed to be acting upon the orders of SBU, abducted a woman near her house in Zaporizhzhia region. They subjected her to threats and torture which lasted for four to five hours. Her captors, who were all masked, bound her hands and legs with zip ties tightened by a metal chain, beat her with their feet and with the butts of their guns and forced needles under her nails."
In the interest of full disclosure, I have travelled within Russia twice over the past decade. My impression of Russians is that they are very much like those of us who live in the Western world. They strive to improve their lives by getting an education, working hard, raising families and living their lives with a minimum of stress just as we do. By allowing (and essentially condoning) the vilification of Russians by anyone living in certain nations, Facebook has set a new low standard for what is acceptable behaviour in the online world. But, then again, what should we expect from Meta, a company that wants the sweaty masses to wile away their lives in a fake world of their making?
For some reason and for all of the George Orwell fans out there, this move by Meta reminds me of this state-sanctioned and encouraged hate:
Meta has chosen the easy path by following the diktats of the parasite class in Washington. Instead of grasping the concept that the Ukraine - Russia geopolitical situation is extremely complex, they've chosen to essentially promote hatred of Russia and the Russian people and allow/promote praise for a band of extreme right-wing thugs.
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