Ng, who had pleaded not guilty to all charges, had been detained for more than 20 months. His channel was said to have contained around 120 messages and photos that incited others to vandalise pro-government shops and commit criminal damage targeting police stations. On June 7, Perekopsky met with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, an avid user of the platform. According to the firm's VP, the main subject of the meeting was "freedom of expression." The public channel had more than 109,000 subscribers, Judge Hui said. Ng had the power to remove or amend the messages in the channel, but he “allowed them to exist.” In handing down the sentence yesterday, deputy judge Peter Hui Shiu-keung of the district court said that even if Ng did not post the messages, he cannot shirk responsibility as the owner and administrator of such a big group for allowing these messages that incite illegal behaviors to exist. The group’s featured image is of a Pepe frog yelling, often referred to as the “REEEEEEE” meme. Pepe the Frog was created back in 2005 by Matt Furie and has since become an internet symbol for meme culture and “degen” culture.
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