Following a two-year suspension, Meta will restore former president Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts “in coming weeks,” according to Nick Clegg, the company’s head of global relations. The choice might alter the course of the 2024 U.S. presidential race and establishes a new standard for how the firm handles international leaders.
Following the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, various social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, and others, blocked Trump for violating their rules and out of concern for further incitement to violence.
With his accounts restored, Trump will be able to run advertisements on his Facebook and Instagram profiles, which have respective followings of 34 million and 23 million.
Facebook Trump decision will not allow him to run political ads
Trump will be able to run advertisements on his Facebook and Instagram sites, which, respectively, have 34 million and 23 million followers, thanks to the restoration of his accounts under normal circumstances. In prior election cycles, Trump mainly depended on Facebook advertisements to raise money and develop his list.
Trump’s account was reinstated by Twitter under Elon Musk, although he hasn’t posted anything yet, continuing to use his Truth Social account in its place.
However, as a result of comments from its independent Oversight Board, Meta has adopted new standards that will apply to Trump and potentially limit his accounts, including his ability to run advertisements so he should breach the company’s rules in the future if he wants to run ads from social media.
“We just do not want — if he is to return to our services — for him to do what he did on January 6, which is to use our services to delegitimize the 2024 election, much as he sought to discredit the 2020 election,”
-Nick Clegg
His accounts won’t be restored right once, according to Clegg, because Meta’s developers will need some time to develop new technology required to limit specific postings or ad possibilities in the future, if necessary.
New policies will be on Trump’s back
Trump will be subject to new regulations regarding account restrictions for public persons during turmoil. According to those guidelines, Meta may opt to block access to a public figure’s account for a period of time ranging from one month to two years if they break its community standards.
Trump will also be subject to the crisis policy protocol that Meta adopted in August, which will take into account both on- and off-platform concerns of impending harm when determining if any public figures’ actions or remarks deserve reprimanding.
“If he now posts further violating content, that content will be removed, of course, and he could be suspended for between one month and two years, depending on the severity of the violation,”
-Nick Clegg
Clegg stated that the firm will retain the right to take action for activities or words that do not expressly contravene the community standards of Meta and may impose various guardrails, such as reducing post distribution without eliminating it or temporarily limiting access to its advertising tools.
Why did Meta ban Rump in the first place?
Following the attack on the Capitol, Meta initially forbade Trump from posting on his Facebook and Instagram pages for at least two weeks, until President Biden’s inauguration.
Following advice from Facebook’s independent Oversight Board to review its choice, the firm announced a few months later that Trump’s ban would start on January 7, 2021, and endure for two years.
Both the right and the left have criticized Meta for its approach to content filtering, particularly for the way it handles famous people during times of crisis or unrest.
Conservatives claim that the firm is engaging in censorship by blocking the accounts of Donald Trump and others, while progressives claim that Meta hasn’t done enough to halt the dissemination of harmful false information in real-time.
The business promoted Clegg to a new position last year that gives him total control over strategic choices, like the one to reactivate Trump’s account, in an effort to help protect Zuckerberg from some of that pressure and criticism.
