Andy Stone, Meta's press secretary, was sentenced to six years in prison in Russia

The press secretary of the American corporation Meta, Andy Stone, was sentenced in absentia to six years in a general regime colony by the Second Western District Military Court in Moscow.

He was found guilty writes DW, under the article on public justification of terrorism on the Internet, and received almost the maximum possible punishment under this article – the prosecution asked that Stone be sentenced to seven years in a maximum security colony. The defense will appeal the verdict.

Stone's sentence should be calculated from the moment of his detention on the territory of the Russian Federation or extradition to Russia. However, it is not specified how exactly the Russian side intends to achieve this. In addition, the court banned the American from administering Internet resources for four years. Andy Stone is wanted in the Russian Federation.

According to the publication, in November 2023, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs put Stone on the federal wanted list. A card with his name appeared in the ministry’s search database back in February 2023, and in November one of the Russian courts decided to arrest him in absentia under the article of promoting terrorism.

In March 2022, the Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case against Meta under the same article – due to the company’s decision not to block Ukrainian Facebook and Instagram users for posts calling for the “death of Russian invaders.” It was Stone who announced the decision as Meta's press secretary.

That same month, Russian authorities blocked Meta's Facebook and Instagram and declared the company an “extremist” organization. In February 2024, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow arrested Stone in absentia for two months. At the same time, Rosfinmonitoring included him in the list of “extremists and terrorists.”

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