A spokesperson for Meta, the parent company of Facebook, confirmed that it temporarily imposed restrictions on hashtags related to the killing of civilians in northern Ukraine, where bodies of individuals shot at close range were found in a town reclaimed by Kyiv from Russian forces. The killings in Bucha, located outside Kyiv, led Western nations to pledge further sanctions against Moscow.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone stated that automated systems searching for images depicting violence on Facebook and Instagram, which the company also owns, were responsible for banning hashtags such as #Bucha and #BuchaMassacre. He tweeted: "This happened automatically due to the disturbing content shared by people using these hashtags. Once we became aware of the issue, we moved quickly to lift the bans."
Facebook and Instagram allow the posting of disturbing and violent content when shared to raise awareness about potential human rights violations, but they remove content if it is too explicit or glorifies suffering. The social media company also adds warning labels to some distressing posts, which users must click on before they can view the images.
Human rights groups have criticized Meta's approach to removing violent content during conflicts, claiming that its practice of deleting data from its servers after 90 days leads to the loss of crucial evidence of war crimes. Stone stated that Meta "is exploring ways to retain this type and other types of content when we remove it," particularly regarding the war in Ukraine. Russia has denied any accusations related to killing civilians.
