“We will be reinstating [former President Donald Trump’s] Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks,” said Nick Clegg, president of global affairs for Meta, in a Thursday announcement. “However, we are doing so with new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses.”
Meta first suspended Trump’s accounts shortly after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, rioters “disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress in the process of affirming the presidential election results,” after Trump lost to current President Joe Biden.
“Two years ago, we took action in what were extreme and highly unusual circumstances,” said Clegg, who explained that the accounts were suspended “following his praise for people engaged in violence at the Capitol.”
He said that the decision was subsequently referred to the Meta Oversight Board, which was established as an independent check on company decisions. While the board upheld the decision, it called for a more definite timeline regarding the suspension and the company responded with a two-year suspension announcement.
This was an “unprecedented” amount of time for a suspension, said Clegg.
“To assess whether the serious risk to public safety that existed in January 2021 has sufficiently receded, we have evaluated the current environment according to our Crisis Policy Protocol, which included looking at the conduct of the US 2022 midterm elections, and expert assessments on the current security environment,” he said. “Our determination is that the risk has sufficiently receded, and that we should therefore adhere to the two-year timeline we set out.”
Going forward, Trump’s accounts face heightened penalties for repeat offenses in light of the suspension.
“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,” said Clegg.
Around the same time that Facebook announced the temporary suspension of Trump’s accounts, Twitter announced a permanent suspension of the former president. However, Elon Musk reversed this decision when he took control of the company.
However, Trump hasn’t posted on the platform since January 2021. Since he was removed from Meta platforms and Twitter, Trump Media & Technology Group established its own social media platform, Truth Social.
“FACEBOOK, which has lost Billions of Dollars in value since ‘deplatforming’ your favorite President, me, has just announced that they are reinstating my account,” said Trump in a Truth Social post Thursday evening.
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