Meta rolls back restrictions to Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts
Meta will lift restrictions on former President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts ahead of the 2024 election, the company announced Friday.
The social media giant will ease penalties unique to the 78-year-old former president’s accounts in the event that he violates company rules in the 115 days before Election Day in order to bring Trump “to parity with President Biden,” a Meta spokesperson told The Post.
The heightened penalties on Trump’s accounts, which include suspension and advertising restrictions, would’ve been enforced if the former president flouted company policies designed to prevent “hate speech and incitement to violence.”
“To ensure people can hear from political candidates on our platforms, we will review accounts subject to this protocol on a periodic basis to determine whether heightened suspension penalties for Community Standards violations remain appropriate,” Nick Clegg, Meta’s President of Global Affairs, said in an update to January 2023 statement.
“With the party conventions taking place shortly, including the Republican convention next week, the candidates for President of the United States will soon be formally nominated,” Clegg added. “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.”
“As a result, former President Trump, as the nominee of the Republican Party, will no longer be subject to the heightened suspension penalties.”
Clegg noted that in the time Trump’s been subject to elevated penalties, the company has not needed to deploy the extreme restrictions to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s accounts.
Biden and Trump are both still subject to Meta’s “Community Standards” and the Silicon Valley giant maintains its ability to limit the distribution of certain posts, according to Axios, which first reported on Friday’s roll back.
Trump, who has a combined total of nearly 54 million followers on both Facebook and Instagram, was suspended from the platforms the day after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol Building.
His account privileges were restored in February 2023 after a two-year ban.
Trump has posted frequently on both Instagram and Facebook during his quest for a second term in the White House, but his primary vehicle for issuing public comments has been Truth Social – the social media platform he launched after his presidency.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
The Biden campaign slammed Meta over the move, calling it a “geedy” and “reckless” decision.“Donald Trump relied on these social media platforms to send a violent mob to the Capitol on January 6, where they tried to overturn an election he lost fair and square,” Charles Lutvak, a Biden campaign spokesperson, said in a statement. “The lies he spread on this platform stoked the mob that assaulted police officers. Five people died.”
“Restoring his access is like handing your car keys to someone you know will drive your car into a crowd and off a cliff. It is holding a megaphone for a bonafide racist who will shout his hate and white supremacy from the rooftops and try to take it mainstream. Without question, it is a direct attack on our safety and our democracy
“This greedy, reckless decision will allow Trump and his MAGA allies to reach more Americans with their fundamentally undemocratic, un-American misinformation. Unfortunately, we will all pay the price,” Lutvak said.
