Platform Rules in War: “Defensive Speech” and Platform Governance in Wartime Ukraine
ZEIT: Montag, 01.06.2026, 11:00 Uhr
ORT: Common Space, Department of Theory and Future of Law/Digital Science Center, Innrain 15, Ursulinenpassage, 6020 Innsbruck
Brief description: Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, strongly worded wartime expressions by Ukrainian users – directed at Russian combatants and calling for resistance – have been routinely removed by Meta platforms as hate speech or incitement, despite the fundamentally different context of armed conflict. The research project develops the concept of "defensive speech" — encompassing strongly worded "defensive hate" and "calls for self-defence" — and argues, drawing on IHL and IHRL frameworks, that "defensive speech" constitutes legitimate wartime expression that platforms should protect rather than remove.
Speaker: Pavlo Burdiak is a PhD student at the Czech Law and Advanced Technologies Research Institute of the Palacký University Olomouc (Czechia) and a Senior Digital Security Analyst at the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law (Ukraine). In his academic and professional capacity, Pavlo conducts research and training on social media policies, cybersecurity, and human rights aspects of digital society. Currently, he is a research fellow at the Department of Theory and Future of Law, University of Innsbruck.