Meta will reinstate former President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts “in the coming weeks,” the company said. Announced on Wednesday. The move comes two years after social networks forbidden Trump for praising the protesters who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“The public should be able to hear what politicians are saying so they can make informed decisions,” Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, wrote in the company’s announcement.
Trump announced in November 2022 that he will run for president again. His campaign had formally petitioned Meta to reinstate him to the platform, NBC News reported earlier this month. Since his suspension, Trump’s profile was accessible on both Facebook and Instagram, but could not be used to create new posts or run ads.
Trump’s accounts will have “new safeguards to deter repeat crime,” Clegg said. If the former president posts anything that violates Meta’s speech policies, his posts will be removed and he will be suspended once again for a period of between one month and two years, depending on the severity of the violation. Meta can also limit the reach of your posts and prevent them from being shared or promoted.
In May 2021, the Facebook Oversight Board, a group of outside academics and other experts brought together by Meta to make high-level policy decisions, confirmed Facebook’s decision to suspend the former president. However, they strongly criticized Facebook’s handling, noting that the suspension was vague and indefinite. The Oversight Board gave Facebook six months to reevaluate.
The Facebook ban was the first time a major social network had banned Trump from its platform. Twitter followed a day later. But in November, the new owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, restored his account. Trump, however, has not tweeted since.
Trump reacted to the news Wednesday night on Truth Social, the platform he founded.
“FACEBOOK, which has lost billions of dollars in value since I ‘de-platformed’ its favorite president, me, has just announced that they are reinstating my account. Something like this should never happen again to a sitting president, or to no one who doesn’t deserve it.” of give back!” he wrote. “THANKS TO TRUTH SOCIAL FOR DOING SUCH AN AMAZING JOB. ITS GROWTH IS EXTRAORDINARY AND THE FUTURE IS LIMITLESS!!!”
During his time as president, Trump spread hate and lies to a massive audience on Facebook. He ran ads that invoked a Nazi symboljustified the violence against Black Lives Matter protesters by saying “when the looting begins the shooting begins,” compared COVID-19 to the flu long after the dangers of the new disease became apparent, and spread false information about electionsthat sowed the ground for the insurrection.
Facebook largely avoided taking action against the former president until after January 6. He added warning labels to some of his posts, despite the evidence, those labels were ineffective. The executives justified leaving their posts despite employee protest.
“We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue using our service during this period are simply too great,” Zuckerberg wrote on January 7, 2021. At the time, the CEO said the ban would last “at least the next two years”. weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.”
Meta’s decision will have a ripple effect not just in the US but around the world, Imran Ahmed, executive director of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, told BuzzFeed News.
“It will go back to being a superspreader of misinformation on social media,” Ahmed said. “It will send a very direct message that impunity continues, that there are no consequences for evil behavior.”
In a statement Wednesday, Wendy Via, president of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said Meta’s decision would empower not only Trump, but also far-right leaders around the world.
“Facebook’s decision to allow Donald Trump back on the platform is incredibly dangerous. Time and time again, we have seen Trump’s lies and rhetoric spread hate, incite violence and undermine democracies,” he said. “With its nearly three billion active users, Facebook’s decision to welcome Trump back shows his willingness to be complicit in the spread of hate and extremism.”
Jane Lytvynenko and Ryan Mac contributed to this report.
