Meta to allow Donald Trump back on Facebook and Instagram
- The former US president’s accounts were suspended for 2 years after the deadly January 6 attack on the Capitol
- The social media company says it has ‘put new guardrails in place to deter repeat offences’
Meta Platforms Inc said on Wednesday it would restore former US president Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks, following a two-year suspension after the deadly Capitol Hill riot on January 6, 2021.
Trump announced in November 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 it has “put new guardrails in place to deter repeat offences”.
“In the event that Mr Trump posts further violating content, the content will be removed and he will be suspended for between one month and two years, depending on the severity of the violation,” wrote Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, in the blog post.
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The decision to ban Trump was a polarising one for Meta, the world’s biggest social media company, which before the Trump 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.