Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook, has briefly blocked hashtags related to civilian killings by Russia soldiers in Bucha, a small town north-west of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, which was occupied by the Russian army on 27 February, and has been recently liberated.
As Meta spokesman Andy Stone explained on Twitter, hashtags, including #bucha and #buchamassacre were blocked because of automated systems that scan for violent imagery on Facebook and Meta-owned Instagram.
“This happened automatically because of the graphic content people posted using these hashtags. When we were made aware of the issue yesterday, we acted quickly to unblock the hashtags,” he tweeted.
Facebook and Instagram allow the posting of graphic and violent content when it is shared to raise awareness of possible human rights abuses, but remove the content if it is extremely explicit or celebrates suffering.
The social media company also adds warning labels to some graphic posts that users must click through before they can see the images.
Ukrainian officials said the bodies of 410 civilians have been found in Kyiv-area towns that were recently retaken from Russian forces. Speaking on Monday, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he expects in Borodyanka and other towns the number of casualties may be even higher.
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the EU was ready to send investigations teams to Ukraine to document alleged Russian war crimes.
Cybersecurity Help statement on the critical situation in Ukraine
On February 24, people in many cities and towns across Ukraine woke up to the sounds of explosions and artillery fire, as the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion of the country. Such actions are unacceptable, political ambitions of any man aren’t worth of blood, tears, and destruction of millions of lives. We give our full support to the Ukrainian people in these hard times. No more war! Слава Україні!