The 2nd Western District Military Court of Moscow has sentenced Meta spokesman Andy Stone to six years in prison in absentia for justifying terrorism. The reason for Stone's conviction was his post about lifting the ban on calls for violence against Russian soldiers on Facebook and Instagram.
According to Mediazona, Stone's lawyer, Valentina Filippenkova, stated in the debate that there were inaccuracies in the case file. Thus, according to the prosecution, Stone was put on the wanted list with the wording "fled the territory of the Russian Federation", but the investigator found that he had never been to Russia.
Earlier in February, Rosfinmonitoring added Meta spokesman Andy Stone to the list of extremists and terrorists. In November 2023, the Basmanny Court in Moscow arrested Stone in absentia. He was also put on the wanted list.
After the invasion began, Stone announced that his company would temporarily lift bans on its platforms for calls for violence against the Russian military. He called it a form of political expression. Stone stressed that "calls for violence against Russian civilians remain prohibited".
The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation described Stone's actions as "calls for extremism" and "assistance to terrorist activities". After that, the Investigative Committee announced the initiation of a criminal case due to "calls for murder and violence against Russian citizens" made by Meta employees.
Russia has listed Meta as a terrorist and extremist organisation since October 2022. Access to Facebook and Instagram is blocked in Russia, but WhatsApp, which is also owned by the corporation, continues to work without a VPN.