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Man Given 3-Month Prison Sentence for ‘Liking’ a Photo on Facebook

Mon dieu. Photo: Ted Soqui/Corbis via Getty Images

Turns out, your terrible choices on Facebook can result in more than just your friends blocking you. On Monday evening, a correctional court in Meaux, France, found a 32-year-old man guilty of advocating terrorism after he liked a piece of ISIS propaganda on Facebook.

According to a report by Le Parisien, the post in question included a disturbing photo of an ISIS fighter decapitating a woman by hand. After the man liked it, the gruesome image started appearing in his friends’ Facebook feeds, which prompted one of them to inform the police of his actions.

The officers quickly decided that the like constituted more than enough evidence to search the man’s home under suspicions of terrorism. Once inside, the police found nothing strictly ISIS-related, but they did recover a variety of airsoft guns and a decent number of pot plants. For these, the man merely received a fine, but the Facebook like still warranted further investigation.

At his trial, the man said that he was merely trying to provoke his relatives by liking the most obscene things he could find. He argued that the propaganda photo was part of a series of disturbing images he had liked that included violence against animals and humans. Somehow, this explanation didn’t win over the members of the court, and he was given a three-month suspended prison sentence.

C’est la vie, I guess.

Man Given Prison Sentence for ‘Liking’ a Photo on Facebook