A Russian court on Monday convicted Mehta’s spokesperson of justifying terrorism and sentenced him to six years in prison in a speedy trial in absentia, Russian independent news site Mediazona reported. He was sentenced to prison.
The newspaper said the accusations against Metacommunications director Andy Stone stem from comments he made after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Stone, who is based in the United States, temporarily changed Meta’s hate speech policy to allow for “political expression that would normally violate our rules, including violent speech such as ‘Death to the Russian invaders.’ announced that it would be allowed.
In the same statement, Stone added that “credible calls for violence against Russian civilians” will continue to be banned by Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.
Nevertheless, Russian authorities opened a criminal case involving Mr. Stone and other unidentified Meth employees, describing the statement as an “unlawful call to violence and murder against Russian citizens.”
Authorities also outlawed Meta as an extremist organization and blocked it from Facebook and Instagram in Russia. Both platforms, as well as the previously blocked X, also known as Twitter, were popular among Russians before the invasion and subsequent crackdown on independent media and other forms of critical speech. was there. However, currently he is only accessible via VPN.
Mediazona reported that Stone was initially charged with calling for terrorist activity, calling for extremist activity and publicly justifying terrorism, but the first two charges were dropped in the final indictment. Reported. The trial, in which Mr. Stone was represented by a government-appointed lawyer, began on Friday and concluded on Monday after just two hearings. Stone was sentenced to six years in a penal colony and was banned from managing a website for another four years.
Mehta declined to comment on the verdict Monday.
In April 2022, Russia officially banned Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg from entering the country.
