Russia has added the spokesperson for US technology company Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, to a wanted list, according to an online database run by the country’s Interior Ministry.
Russian state agency Tass and independent media outlet Mediazona reported Sunday that Meta’s communications director, Andy Stone, was included on the list after Russian authorities classified Meta as a “terrorist and extremist” organization in October, paving the way for possible criminal proceedings against Russian residents using its platforms.
The Home Office database does not give details of Mr Stone’s case, saying only that he is wanted on criminal charges. Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to Mediazona, an independent news site that covers the Russian opposition and prison system, Mr. Stone was put on the wanted list in February 2022, but authorities have made no statement on the matter at the time. at the time and no media reported on the affair until this week.
Last March, the Russian Federal Investigative Committee opened a criminal investigation into Meta. She alleged that the company’s actions following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, amounted to incitement of violence against Russians.
After Russian troops entered Ukraine, Mr. Stone announced temporary changes to Meta’s hate speech policy to allow “forms of political expression that would normally violate [its] rules, such as violent such as “death to the Russian invaders”.
In the same statement, Mr. Stone added that “credible calls for violence against Russian civilians” would remain prohibited.
Mediazona said on Sunday that an unspecified Russian court had issued an arrest warrant earlier this month for Mr. Stone on charges of “facilitating terrorism.” The article does not specify the source of this information, which could not be independently verified.
Western social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and X were popular with young Russians before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but have since been blocked in the country as part of a broad crackdown on independent media and other forms of critical discourse. They are now only accessible via a virtual private network (better known as “VPN”).
In April 2022, Russia also formally banned Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg from entering the country.