Meta Disables Russell Brand’s Instagram and Facebook Accounts After Sentencing
Meta has disabled Russell Brand's Instagram and Facebook accounts days after the 51-year-old was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years for rape and sexual assault. Brand posted on X, which remains active, that there was never a Russell Brand according to Meta.
Meta has disabled Russell Brand's social media accounts on Instagram and Facebook, days after the 51-year-old former entertainer was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in prison for rape and sexual assault. Brand's X account remains active.
On Thursday, November 12, a post appeared on that X account reading: "There was never a Russell Brand, according to @meta." It added: "Thank God for @elonmusk. Stay tuned." The post included what appeared to be screenshots of notices saying his Instagram account had been disabled.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed Brand's Instagram account was removed for violating the platform's policies. The notices in the screenshots cited Meta's Community Standards.
What Meta's rules say
Meta's community standards policy says it restricts or removes accounts that are "harmful to the community" in order to "maintain a safe environment and empower free expression". That includes accounts owned by convicted sex offenders.
Brand is in prison. He is expected to serve seven years of his sentence behind bars before release on licence.
The sentence
A jury at Southwark Crown Court found Brand guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault, involving four women. The offences took place between 2004 and 2009. The verdict came on November 5, after a four-week trial.
He was sentenced on November 9. He received nine years for the rape, plus nine months, 18 months and eight months for the three sexual assaults. Those three terms run together but follow the rape sentence, making 10 years and six months in total.
Earlier platform action
This is not the first time a major platform has acted against Brand. In 2023, after a media investigation into allegations about his behaviour, which he denies, YouTube stopped his channels from earning money from adverts. The company said he had violated its creator responsibility policy and that it was acting to protect its users.
X has not taken similar action. Its owner, Elon Musk, has previously expressed support for Brand and, after the sentencing, called the punishment "unjust" in a post on the platform.
Brand's post ended with the words "Stay tuned". He has not said what he plans to do next.
