Posts from Ukraine Discussing Migration
UPDATED SEP 15, 2026
Standard Case 2026-048-FB-UA
Today, September 15, 2026, the Oversight Board selected a case appealed by a Facebook user regarding a post discussing migration into and out of Ukraine.
In April 2026, a user posted text in Russian, along with an image, commenting on migration and the social and economic policies that contributed to a labor shortage in Ukraine. The post responded to a statement by the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine that the country may ease its immigration restrictions to attract foreign workers, including from African countries, to address its shrinking workforce. The post criticized public outrage in Ukraine against African migrants, stated that the country "would be lucky" to have migrants "from the most backward countries," and attributed the labor shortage to decades of poor economic policy and disregard for Ukrainian people, who it said are "scattering all over the world like cockroaches." The accompanying image showed a map of war-damaged Ukraine, Ukrainian soldiers, people who appear to be displaced Ukrainians, and African migrants carrying luggage.
Upon initial review, Meta took down this content for violating our policy on Hateful Conduct, as laid out in the Community Standards, and applied a standard strike and a time-based feature limit to the user's account. However, upon additional review, we determined we removed this content in error and reinstated the post. We also removed the associated strike from the user's account.
We will implement the Board's decision once it has finished deliberating, and will update this post accordingly. Please see the Board's website for the decision when they issue it.