The former president of the United States is back on social media platforms, Instagram and Facebook after a two-year ban whilst the Capitol Riots. Now, Meta has announced that it will allow Donald Trump to return back to FB and Insta in the coming weeks. However, the company also mentioned that in case the former president violates any content policies, his account will be subject to additional suspensions.
Donald Trump’s Back On Meta Platforms
As difficult as it may seem to digest, former President Donald Trump is back on Instagram and Facebook. Meta’s announcement to reinstate Trump’s social media accounts comes following the two-year ban amid the 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs wrote in a blog post on Wednesday (Jan. 25):
“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 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.”
Back in 2021, Facebook, Twitter and Google, made an unprecedented decision to ban the then-sitting president Donald Trump from their platforms during the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot. The platforms determined that doing so “outweighed the risk of potential further incitement to violence”. However, their actions varied in their degrees – Twitter opted for a permanent ban while Facebook stated that its suspension was temporarily setting a two-year timeline).
Why Was Donald Trump Banned?
Donald Trump was banned from Facebook, Twitter and Google after a massive mob charged into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to entice violence during Joe Biden’s election. Despite the escalating chaos, Trump continued to post unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election had been stolen, and praised the violent protesters for the attempted insurrection.
In July 2022, the House Committee played a pre-recorded testimony of Donald Trump’s former national campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson. The committee also saw text interactions between former Trump allies Pierson and Brad Parscale. In the texts seen during the case, the two were seen discussing the January 6, 2021 insurrection.
The emails and messages reflected concerns she had about the rally, including that the speaking slots were going to “very suspect” people such as Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and Ali Alexander, founder of the “stop the steal” movement. Per one testimony, it came out that Donald Trump wanted to issue “blanket pardons” for everyone who participated in the riot.
What Does This Reinstatement Mean?
In his blog post, Meta’s Nick Clegg also stated that it has “put new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses.” People are wondering what these guardrails are. “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,” explained Nick in his blog post.
The restoration of Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts will serve as a boost for the politician, as he announced in November that he will make another run for the White House in 2023. Trump has 34 million followers on Facebook and 23 million on Instagram, which will serve as a key vehicle to accelerate his political outreach and fundraising. Sounds worrying, eh?
