Summary:
In 2015, Facebook started automatically banning accounts that used the word "moskal"- a widely used historical slang term for people of Russian, which could be considered offensive by some individuals. However, use of similar words such as "khokhol", which are widely used by Russian nationalists against Ukrainians, as well as insulting uses of "ukrop", were not prosecuted simultaneously. When a conflict between Russia and Ukraine broke out in 2014, people in both countries started reporting the terms used by the opposing side as hate speech.
Allegations:
- In an experiment, journalist Max Kononenko had deliberately posted the poem "Мy Genealogy" by Alexander Pushkin to see if the rumor that the use of the words "Khokhol" and "Dill" was automatically banned.
- A post by deputy head of Roskomnadzor Maxim Ksenzov was also removed by Facebook. According to him, the post contained the word "Ukrainians". He later deleted his Facebook page in protest accusing Facebook of double standards.
Defence:
- Facebook banned journalist Kononenko's account for a week for publishing an excerpt from a Pushkin poem for using the word "Ukranian" among other things.
- In response to both sides, Richard Allan, Facebook's VP of Public Policy for Europe, the Middle East , and Africa said, "We did an internal review and concluded that they were right. We began taking both terms down, a decision that was initially unpopular on both sides because it seemed restrictive, but in the context of the conflict felt important to us."