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With more than two years having passed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a special military court in Moscow sentenced Facebook parent Meta’s spokesperson Andy Stone to six years in jail earlier today according to a report in the local media. Facebook and Instagram were blocked in Russia after the invasion started, and Moscow has accused the platform of spreading terrorism in Russia after Stone had outlined in 2022 that Meta would temporarily allow posts calling for violence against the European nation. Meta CEO, the billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, is already barred from entering Russia, and the sentence was awarded to the spokesperson in absentia.
Meta Spokesperson Receives Jail Sentence For Terrorism In Russia
The sentencing was part of a criminal investigation that started last year and was headed by the Russian Interior Ministry. Stone’s conviction is for spreading terrorism in Russia, due to his defending Meta’s decision to allow comments and posts on Facebook that wished harm upon the Russian military and Russian and Belarusian leaders. Facebook and Instagram were banned in Russia in March 2022, a month after Russian forces crossed into Ukraine. At the time, Russian authorities had defended the decision by calling Meta an extremist organization.
While Meta had also stated that the allowance was only in the context of the Ukraine invasion, Russian authorities were quick to act as they blocked the firm’s social networks in the country within days of Stone’s statements. Sensing danger, Meta announced that it had decided to remove the policy that had allowed the death wishes, but by that time, it was too late, and the services were taken down in the Russian Federation.
Meta’s legal troubles in Russia started a year back in March when a Moscow District Court agreed with the government in classifying the firm as an extremist organization and supported the Facebook and Instagram ban. This was followed by Russian government representatives leaving the social media platform, and things took a new turn earlier today in Moscow following Stone’s sentencing.
The sentencing was done in absentia, and the six year term will start once the Meta spokesperson is either enters Russia or is extradited. His attorneys expect to appeal the conviction, and had asked the court to set the charges during the proceedings earlier today.
Sentences in Russia against Western journalists and others are not new. The U.S. and Russia are currently embroiled in a diplomatic row over jailed Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich who was arrested on espionage charges in Russia in March 2023. Gershkovich’s jail sentence was extended by three months last month, and the Journal has denied all charges made against him by Russia.