The UN Security Council is holding an emergency meeting on Friday at the request of Moscow on the alleged development of biological weapons in Ukraine.
According to international media, on March 6, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a tweet that Russian forces had received evidence that the Ukrainian government was removing traces of a biological program run by the military, which was allegedly funded by the United States. Provided.
The United States has denied Russia’s allegations, saying the allegations indicate that Moscow could soon use the weapon in Ukraine.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement on Wednesday that the Kremlin was deliberately spreading the lie that the United States and Ukraine were carrying out chemical and biological weapons activities in Ukraine.
In a video message on Thursday, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky denied Russia’s allegations, saying “no one in Ukraine is developing any chemical or other weapons of mass destruction.”
Facebook temporarily relaxes its policy
Facebook, on the other hand, has said it has temporarily relaxed its policy on hate speech following Moscow’s attack on Ukraine.
Facebook has allowed statements such as “Death of Russian Invaders” to be shared on its platform, but citizens have been barred from making threats.
Moscow’s attack on its neighbor has not only prompted Western governments and businesses to impose sanctions, but has also fueled controversy over the role of social media in the war.
The policy decision by Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, was immediately met with controversy but it has defended itself.
“As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we have temporarily allowed all forms of political expression that are generally against the law regarding our hate speech, such as ‘Russian invaders,'” Meta said in a statement. Death
“We will still not allow anyone to incite violence against Russian citizens,” the statement said.
Meta’s statement came after a Reuters report said the policy applied to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine.
Tech platforms ran into problems in the Russia-Ukraine conflict when US Senator Lindsay Graham called for the assassination of Russian President Vladimir Putin in a televised interview and on Twitter.
Graham’s March 3 tweet said, “The only way to end this (war) is for someone in Russia to take this man out.”
Twitter did not remove Lindsay Graham’s tweet from its platform, which was widely criticized.
Emerson Brooking, a disinformation expert at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, said: “This policy is about demands for violence against Russian troops. There is a call for violence, a call for resistance anyway, because Ukrainians resist a violent attack. “
However, some people have expressed deep concern over this policy. Jeremy Latau, a professor at Lehigh University, joked in a tweet: “We do not allow hate speech except against certain people in a particular country.”
Facebook and other US technology companies have stepped in to “punish” Russia after the attack on Ukraine, while Russia has taken steps to block access to popular social media networks as well as Twitter.