On Wednesday, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced that former President Trump’s ban on both platforms would be coming to an end in the next few weeks and that he will be allowed back on them.
Nick Clegg, spokesperson for Meta, said that Trump’s two-year suspension had come to an end and that his accounts will be reinstated in the coming weeks.
“Social media is rooted in the belief that open debate and the free flow of ideas are important values,” Clegg wrote in a statement. “As a general rule, we don’t want to get in the way of open, public and democratic debate on Meta’s platforms – especially in the context of elections in democratic societies like the United States.”
The decision comes after Trump’s 2024 campaign petitioned Meta to unlock his accounts and let Trump post directly to his 34 million followers on Facebook and 25 million followers on Instagram. Trump had previously filed a lawsuit against the company.
Trump was suspended just a day after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot due to fears that he would “provoke further violence.” It came not long after Twitter also banned the former president, a ban which has since been reversed after Twitter CEO Elon Musk purchased the company.
Meta said it has installed “new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses.”
“The public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying – the good, the bad and the ugly – so that they can make informed choices at the ballot box,” Clegg wrote. “But that does not mean there are no limits to what people can say on our platform.”
Meta initially suspended Trump “indefinitely,” later referring his status to its “Oversight Board,” an “expert body established to be an independent check.” The board upheld the decision to suspend Trump but said that it should not be permanent, leading to the announcement that he would be barred for two years.
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