Facebook will soon restore the accounts of Donald Trump, the platform said Wednesday, ending the former president’s ban over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riots.
“We will be reinstating Mr. Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks,” Nick Clegg, the president of global affairs for Facebook parent company Meta, wrote in a blog post. “However, we are doing so with new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses.”
The change of course arrives more than a month after Elon Musk restored Trump’s Twitter account. The reinstatement could prove critical for Trump as he pursues a 2024 election bid.
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Meta’s guardrails include heightened penalties if Trump or his team post something that violated the company’s Community Standards. Meta also said it would limit the spread of posts that don’t violate the Community Standards but risk offline harm, such as “content that delegitimizes an upcoming election or is related to QAnon.” Meta may also remove the share button or stop posts from being recommended or posted as ads if violations are observed.
Meta had previously implemented a time-bound two-year suspension on Trump’s account at the behest of Meta’s regulatory body, the Oversight Board.
“Today’s decision by Meta is a pivotal moment in the debate over the best way to handle harmful content posted by politicians on social media,” the board wrote.
Trump quickly responded to the reinstatement by berating Facebook. “FACEBOOK, which has lost Billions of Dollars in value since ‘deplatforming’ your favorite President, me, has just announced that they are reinstating my account,” the former president wrote. “Such a thing should never again happen to a sitting President, or anybody else who is not deserving of retribution!”
Trump’s team had been pushing for Meta to reinstate Trump amid his 2024 reelection campaign. While Trump signed an Securities and Exchange Commission filing stating he would give his social network Truth Social priority when it came to posts, he is also considering not renewing the filing. Although Trump was reinstated on Twitter in November 2022, he has not posted there since.
Clegg said at a September event that the platform would reconsider allowing Trump back on after consulting with experts and weighing risks of harm.
If Trump returns to the platform, he will be exempt from Meta’s fact-checking efforts because he is a political candidate, according to internal documents.
Democrats have urged against the decision in the past, citing continued “harmful” misinformation.
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“For Meta to credibly maintain a legitimate election integrity policy, it is essential that your company maintain its platform ban on former president Trump,” Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Kathy Castor (D-FL), and Andres Carson (D-IN) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-NY) wrote in a letter to Meta in December.
