META BRIEFLY BLOCKS HASHTAGS TIED TO BUCHA KILLINGS

Facebook owner Meta Platforms briefly restricted hashtags related to civilian deaths in northern Ukraine, where bodies of people shot at close range were found, a spokesman said Monday. Meta’s Andy Stone said automated systems that scan for violent imagery on Facebook and Instagram, which the company also owns, were responsible for blocking hashtags including #bucha and #buchamassacre. “This happened automatically because of the graphic content people posted using these hashtags. When we were made aware of the issue, we acted quickly to unblock the hashtags,” he wrote on Twitter. Facebook and Instagram permit the posting of graphic and violent content when it’s shared to raise awareness of possible human

rights abuses, but deletes the content if it is extremely explicit or celebrates suffering.