Russian Court Sentences Meta Spokesman to 6 Years in Prison, Labels Meta as a Terrorist Organization

• On Monday, a Russian military court sentenced Meta spokesman Andy Stone to 6 years in prison for publicly defending terrorism.'
• The problem began in 2022 when Facebook and Instagram were branded as terrorist organizations and an investigation was launched into spokesman Andy Stone.
• Since Mr. Stone isn't in Russia right now, it's unlikely that he'll actually go to prison. Still, his lawyer has announced that they will be appealing this decision.

As if the Russian government's ban on Facebook and Instagram in 2022 wasn't enough trouble for the company in the largest country of the world by area, Andy Stone (Meta's Communication Director) has now been sentenced to six years in prison for publicly defending terrorism.

The order was carried out by a Russian military court in Moscow on Monday, April 22. It's worth noting that Meta had already been designated as an extremist organization in Russia when it was banned in 2022.

Unsurprisingly, Meta hasn't responded to any requests for a comment and Mr. Stone could not be reached.

Also: Within just the last week, Turkey placed a ban on Meta Threads and the Dutch government announced that it'll stop using Facebook pages over privacy concerns.

The current situation in Russia, though, is a completely different ball game altogether, even for a global company like Meta that's used to dealing with legal proceedings of all sorts.

Meta's Russia Trouble Since 2022: ExplainedMeta's relationship with Russia started deteriorating in 2022 when it invaded Ukraine and launched a full-fledged war on the country. Soon after that, Facebook and Instagram were accused of spreading Russophobia.'

In March 2022, Russia set up an investigative committee that started looking into Meta. The investigation revealed that Andy Stone had apparently allowed some posts on the platform that he shouldn't have, as they were inciting violence.'

What actually happened is that Andy Stone announced a few changes to Meta's hate speech policy, which then allowed forms of political expression that would normally violate (its) rules, like violent speech such as death to the Russian invaders."[/su_note]

In his defense, Stone said that the credible calls for violence against Russian civilians" would remain banned.

Simply put, Andy Stone-led Meta in 2022 quite clearly allowed violent statements against the Russian military on its platforms.

As a result of this, both Facebook and Instagram were banned in the country and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was barred from entering Russia-he still is.

Although Meta appealed against the ban, a court in June 2022 upheld the decision and announced that only WhatsApp (another Meta-owned app) can be allowed to operate in Russia.

However, the problems did not end there. After the ban, Andy Stone was put on the wanted list and an official criminal investigation was launched into him. Then in February this year, a Moscow court issued an arrest warrant against him on several terrorist-related counts.

Andy Stone

Allegations against Andy Stone included:

• Promotion of terrorist activities
• Public calls for terrorist activities
• Public justification of terrorism or propaganda of terrorism
• Public calls for extremist activities

Then the final trial started where Andy Stone was represented by a government-appointed lawyer. Surprisingly, the trial was done with pretty quickly. It began on Friday (April 19) and after just two hearings, the court sentenced him to prison on Monday (April 22).

Meta's ResponseMeta addressed the issue last year and said that it wasn't promoting anti-Russian sentiments. It issued further clarification saying that it was only making a temporary change to its policy so that those affected by the war had a platform to express their sentiments against the armed invaders.

Moreover, the ban did little to stop people from using Facebook and Instagram in the country. Almost all of them resorted to using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to bypass geo-restrictions placed on the apps.

However, the situation has changed now that Meta has been termed as a terrorist organization in Russia. It means that anyone caught using Instagram or Facebook, even through a VPN, can be apprehended as a criminal.

Although such country-wide rules only typically apply to citizens, I'd recommend exercising caution and only use one of the best VPN services with obfuscated servers (they hide the fact that you're using a VPN) in case you're planning on visiting Russia.

Additionally, the terrorist status also means that banks can freeze Meta's funds in Russia.

What Happens Next?Since Andy Stone is not present in Russia (he currently resides in Washington DC), it doesn't look like he'll serve the term. Unless he's in a country that has an extradition treaty with Russia, he's safe.

However, he can never return to Russia, at least not until he doesn't have a criminal status. His lawyer Valentina Filippenkova said that they would be appealing against the court's decision and would be asking for acquittal.

Read more: Meta decides to broaden its content moderation policy on AI-generated content.

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