The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern on Friday at the announcement by Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to make exceptions to its rules by not deleting messages hostile to the army and to Russian leaders.
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“It is very clearly a very, very complex subject, but one which raises concerns in terms of human rights and international humanitarian law”, explained Elizabeth Throssel, spokeswoman for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. man, during a press briefing in Geneva.
Meta announced on Thursday that it would make exceptions to its policy on incitement to violence and hatred by not deleting messages hostile to the army and Russian leaders.
“Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we are leniency towards forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules on violent speech such as ‘death to Russian invaders’,” confirmed to AFP. Andy Stone, Meta Communications Manager. He said, however, that calls for violence against Russian civilians remained prohibited.
The vagueness surrounding this announcement “could certainly contribute to hate speech directed against Russians in general”, explained Ms. Throssel, insisting that “it would be very disturbing”.
She indicated that the High Commission would speak with Meta for clarification.
“We will encourage them (Meta) to take a closer look at the damage that could accompany this policy change,” the spokesperson said, while acknowledging that the subject required closer examination due to the complexity of the issues. legal concepts surrounding, in particular, freedom of expression and the particular context of a conflict.
Thus, it is possible “that in an ongoing conflict, calling for violence against those directly engaged in hostilities might not be prohibited”, she suggested, believing that this required a more in-depth analysis of the High Commission and also more information from the social media giant.
Russia files charges against Meta for ‘calling for murders’ of Russians
Russia announced on Friday that it is prosecuting Meta for “calling for the murders” of Russians, after the parent company of Facebook and Instagram relaxed its rules on violent messages aimed at the military and Russian leaders.
Russia’s powerful investigative committee said it was launching its investigations “because of illegal calls for the murders of Russian nationals by employees of the American company Meta”.
The Committee is prosecuting for “public calls for extremist activity and assistance in terrorist activity”, and is looking in particular at Andy Stone, head of communications at Meta, who announced on Thursday the change in Facebook’s posting rules and Instagram.
The Russian Prosecutor’s Office has asked him to classify the internet giant as an “extremist” organization, and therefore to ban all its activities in Russia.
He also asks the Russian telecommunications policeman Roskomnadzor to block access to Instagram in the country, while Facebook is already no longer accessible, or difficult to access, since March 4.
Instagram is extremely popular with Russian youth, but is also a crucial online sales tool for many Russian small and medium-sized businesses, as well as artists and artisans.