Facebook and Instagram’s parent company Meta has decided to end President Donald Trump’s suspension on the platforms.
Following the decision, the company said Trump’s accounts on the social media platforms will be restored “in the coming weeks.”
Nick Clegg, president of global affairs at Meta, confirmed that Trump’s accounts will be soon reinstated.
However, Clegg revealed that Trump’s accounts will be restored with “new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses.”
EXCLUSIVE: Meta will reinstate former President Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts “in coming weeks” following a two-year suspension, according to Nick Clegg, the company’s president, global affairs. https://t.co/x4mqbiwZ9V
— Axios (@axios) January 25, 2023
The guardrails will include “heightened penalties for repeat offenses — penalties which will apply to other public figures whose accounts are reinstated from suspensions related to civil unrest under our updated protocol.”
“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,” Clegg said.
“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.
“We’ve always believed that Americans should be able to hear from the people who want to lead the country,” Clegg added.
“We don’t want to stand in the way of that.”
BREAKING: Former President Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts are being reinstated, Meta announces, two years after he was suspended over incendiary posts on the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. https://t.co/rNKFFWnF2c
— NBC News (@NBCNews) January 25, 2023
Trump responded to the decision in a post on Truth Social by blasting the company for banning him n the first place.
“FACEBOOK, which has lost Billions of Dollars in value since ‘deplatforming’ your favorite President, me, has just announced that they are reinstating my account,” Trump said.
“Such a thing should never again happen to a sitting President, or anybody else who is not deserving of retribution!”
Trump did not reveal whether he plans to return to the platform.
Since Elon Musk restored his Twitter account, Trump has yet to post from his account.
Trump’s license agreement with Truth Social requires that he block “any and all social media communications and posts originating from his personal profile” on Truth Social for at least six hours before posting those views on any other platform, according to an earlier SEC filing.
The agreement, approved on December 22, 2021, runs for 18 months.
It seems unlikely that Trump will post on either Twitter or Facebook until after the 18-month period expires in June.
