Meta Disables Russell Brand Social Media Accounts After Conviction
“There was never a Russell Brand, according to @meta,” read a post on X as the tech company disabled the former entertainer’s social media presence following his criminal conviction.
Russell Brand’s Instagram and Facebook accounts were disabled by Meta after the 51-year-old was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison earlier this week, according to news correspondent Helena Wilkinson. He was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault involving four women in offenses committed between 2004 and 2009.
The convictions stem from attacks that included anally raping a woman in 2009, grabbing the breasts of an ex-MTV staffer in 2004, and putting his head in the groin of a former Channel 4 employee in 2009. Brand is expected to serve seven years of his sentence behind bars before his release on licence.
Meta removed Brand’s Instagram account, which held more than 5M followers across more than 6,500 posts, alongside his Facebook page, which had 6.2M followers. The company’s community standards policy restricts or removes accounts owned by convicted sex offenders to maintain a safe environment, stating that such accounts are harmful to the community.
Screenshots shared by Brand on X showed notices informing him that his Instagram account did not follow community standards and that all information would be permanently deleted without the option for another review. Responding to the platform ban on X, the post added, “Thank God for @elonmusk,” referring to the platform’s owner, and concluded with “Stay tuned.”
The latest digital restrictions follow prior platform penalties. In 2023, following a media investigation revealing allegations about his behavior which he denied, YouTube suspended his channels from making money from adverts for violating its creator responsibility policy, noting at the time that the action was taken to protect users.
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