Meta says it will now prohibit calls for death of heads of state on its platforms

Meta announced on Sunday that it will be narrowing its content moderation policy to prohibit calls for the death of a head of state on any of its platforms.

The announcement comes after the company announced on Thursday that it would temporarily allow such speech in certain countries against Russian aggressors amid the invasion of Ukraine.

“We are now narrowing the focus to make it explicitly clear in the guidance that it is never to be interpreted as condoning violence against Russians in general,” said Nick Clegg, Meta Global Affairs President.

“We also do not permit calls to assassinate a head of state … So, in order to remove any ambiguity about our stance, we are further narrowing our guidance to make explicit that we are not allowing calls for the death of a head of state on our platforms,” Clegg added.

On Friday Meta reportedly told Reuters the platform would need to modify its policy to allow such posts only from Ukraine.

Clegg also added, “Meta stands against Russophobia. We have no tolerance for calls for genocide, ethnic cleansing, or any kind of discrimination, harassment, or violence towards Russians on our platform.”