The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has lead to numerous sanctions being placed on the nation, but a report concerning what Meta is allowing on its platforms in the wake of the war is worrying.

In short, Meta will allow users in some countries to post calls for violence against Russian soldiers, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko without the threat of a ban hanging over them.

“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.’ We still won’t allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians,” a spokesperson for Meta told Reuters.

This hold on Meta’s policy won’t apply should threats include other targets, contain a location or a method. The hold also only applies in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine.

Meta goes on to say that the reason for this temporary change is due to how the phrase Russian soldiers is being used. The firm says that in this context, Russian soldiers is a proxy for Russian military.

While Meta continuously reiterates that it will take threats against Russian civilians seriously we have to wonder how it or rather its moderators will make that call. In the past we’ve seen the likes of Facebook become a festering pit of hatred because the platform’s moderators lacked contextual awareness of what was happening in a particular country.

We also know that by simply using code words, users can get around moderation quite easily. Given how quickly and easily users in anti-vax groups circumvented detection we have to wonder how Meta intends to deal with this in the context of a war and in a language that isn’t English.

It’s also interesting to note that this brief stoppage in Meta’s hate speech and violent speech policies in the Ukraine and other European nations, hasn’t been afforded to citizens in Yemen where a war has raged on since the tail end of 2021.

That may be because Meta’s efforts at content moderation in the Middle East are woeful at best. In October, a must-read report from Politico painted an alarming picture of how out of its depth Meta is when it comes to content moderation in languages that aren’t English and countries where wars are fought constantly.

Meta may see itself as a place for friends, but many people who have malicious intentions use its platforms and allowing threats in one nation may force Meta to allow them in others.

While we understand that the situation in Europe right now is tense, we don’t think it’s a good idea for Meta to allow any threats of violence, no matter the context.