The company responsible for Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, Meta, says it is aware of the situation in Ukraine and says it has set up a specialized team to deal with speech and content that violates its rules on social media.

"The situation in Ukraine is devastating. We have established a Special Operations Center, staffed with experts and native speakers (in Ukrainian), to respond in real time to remove hate speech and content that incites violence or violates our rules," said Global Affairs President Nick Clegg, quoted on an online news site.

The executive says the company is "taking steps to combat the spread of misinformation" and will identify content that is shared by state-controlled media groups. "Our cybersecurity teams are watching for coordinated attempts to abuse our platform," Clegg said.