According to its online database, the Russian Interior Ministry has put the spokesman for the US technology company Meta on a wanted list
November 26, 2023, 1:01 p.m. ET
• 2 min reading
Russia has placed the spokesman for US technology company Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, on a wanted list, according to an online database run by the country’s Interior Ministry.
Russian state agency Tass and independent news agency Mediazona first reported that Meta communications director Andy Stone was added to the list on Sunday, weeks after Russian authorities designated Meta as a “terrorist and extremist” organization in October, paving the way for possible criminal proceedings against Russian paved residents using their platforms.
The Home Office database does not contain details of the case against Stone, only that he is wanted on criminal charges. Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to Mediazona, an independent news website that reports on the Russian opposition and prison system, Stone was placed on the wanted list in February 2022, but authorities made no statements on the matter at the time and no news media reported the incident until this week Matter.
In March this year, Russia’s Federal Investigative Committee opened a criminal investigation into Meta. It was alleged that the company’s actions amounted to incitement of violence against Russians following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
After Russian troops invaded Ukraine, Stone announced temporary changes to Meta’s hate speech policy to allow “forms of political expression that would normally violate (their) rules, such as violent speech such as ‘Death to the Russian invaders’.”
In the same statement, Stone added that “credible calls for violence against Russian civilians” remained banned.
Mediazona claimed on Sunday that an unspecified Russian court had issued an arrest warrant for Stone earlier this month for “promoting terrorism.” The report did not identify the source of this information, which could not be independently verified.
Western social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and blocks speech. You can now only be reached via VPN.
In April 2022, Russia also officially banned Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg from entering the country.