Former President Donald Trump may have received a boost in the presidential race on Friday as President Joe Biden flounders.
Trump will soon have fewer restrictions on his Instagram and Facebook accounts, Meta, owner of the social media platforms, announced on Friday.
"In assessing our responsibility to allow political expression, we believe that the American people should be able to hear from the nominees for president on the same basis," Meta president of global affairs Nick Clegg said in a statement.
However, this does not mean that presidential candidates will receive special treatment pertaining to dangerous rhetoric.
"All US Presidential candidates remain subject to the same Community Standards as all Facebook and Instagram users, including those policies designed to prevent hate speech and incitement to violence," Clegg's statement read.
Newsweek reached out to Meta, which referred to Clegg's statement, and Trump's spokesperson, Steven Cheung, via email for comment on Friday.
In the wake of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol waged by Trump supporters, the former president's social media accounts were banned for violating the platforms' rules. Before the ban, Trump spread unfounded claims on social media that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
The former president's Instagram and Facebook accounts were reinstated in January 2023, but subject to stricter penalties if Meta's policies were violated. His X, formerly Twitter, account was also reinstated in November 2022. Trump now primarily uses Truth Social, his own social media platform.
Meta's decision comes after Trump won the first presidential debate in Atlanta late last month, according to polling data.
A CNN/SSRS flash poll conducted shortly after the debate found that a majority of viewers believe Trump won; 67 percent said the former president had a better performance, while 33 percent said Biden won. The poll surveyed 565 registered voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 5.5 percentage points.
In a poll by The Economist/YouGov conducted July 7 to July 9, 49 percent of 1,620 U.S. adults thought Trump won the debate, while 12 percent thought Biden did. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percent.
Biden's poor showing that night has pushed some Democrats to call for the president to step aside and let another prominent Democrat seize the party's nomination. Biden has repeatedly vowed to stay in the race.
While Biden did survive a high-stakes solo news conference on Thursday night, it didn't stop Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, from becoming the 17th House Democrat to ask Biden to quit. Senator Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, has also urged Biden to exit the race.
Update 7/12/24, 5:10 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
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Rachel Dobkin is a Newsweek reporter based in New York. Her focus is reporting on politics. Rachel joined Newsweek in ... Read more
