© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Former US President Donald Trump announces that he will once again run for US President in the 2024 US presidential election during an event at his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Florida, United States, on November 15, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
By Katie Paul and Sheila Dang
(Reuters) – Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:) said on Wednesday it will restore the Facebook and Instagram accounts of former U.S. President Donald Trump in the coming weeks after a two-year suspension following deadly riots on Capitol Hill. on January 6, 2021.
Trump announced in November that he will make another run for the White House in 2024. Trump has 34 million followers on Facebook and 23 million on Instagram, platforms that are key vehicles for political outreach and fundraising.
The social media company said in a blog post that it has “put in place new safeguards to deter repeat offenders.”
“Should Mr. Trump post further violative content, the content will be removed and he will be suspended for anywhere from one month to two years, depending on the severity of the violation,” Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, wrote. in the blog post.
The decision to ban Trump was polarizing for Meta, the world’s largest social media company, which before Trump’s suspension had never blocked the account of a sitting head of state for violating its content rules.
The company indefinitely revoked Trump’s access to his Facebook and Instagram accounts after removing two of his posts during the Capitol Hill violence, including a video in which he reiterated his false claim of widespread voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election.
It then referred the case to its independent oversight board, which ruled that the suspension was justified but not its indeterminate nature. In response, Meta said that he would review the suspension two years after it began.
Meta’s blog post on Wednesday suggested that it may reactivate other suspended accounts, including those penalized for their involvement in civil unrest. The company said those reinstated accounts would be subject to stricter review and penalties for violations.
It’s unclear if and how Trump will jump at the opportunity to return to Facebook and Instagram.
In November he regained access to Twitter, his once favorite online megaphone. Trump has not sent new tweets since he recovered his account on the platform and said he would prefer to stick with his own Truth Social app. But his campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital last week that returning to Facebook “will be an important tool for the 2024 campaign to reach voters.”
In a post on Truth Social, Trump responded to his reinstatement on Meta apps, saying, “Such a thing should never happen again to a sitting president, or anyone else who doesn’t deserve retribution!” He did not indicate if or when he would post to the Meta platforms again.
Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat who previously chaired the House Intelligence Committee, criticized the decision to reinstate him.
“Trump incited an insurrection,” Schiff wrote on Twitter. “Giving him back access to a social media platform to spread his lies and demagogy is dangerous.”
