News came out this week that X owner Elon Musk reportedly donated to a group that supports former President Donald Trump’s current campaign, and another iconic social media brand is removing restrictions on Trump’s accounts.
“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,” said Meta – the parent company of Facebook and Instagram – this Friday. “As a result, former President Trump, as the nominee of the Republican Party, will no longer be subject to the heightened suspension penalties.”
This announcement came in an update on a January 2023 blog post about the former president’s accounts being reinstated. They were suspended in January 2021 due to posts made during the Capitol riot, along with Trump’s Twitter (now X) account.
After Musk purchased Twitter (but before he renamed it X), the billionaire business mogul reinstated Trump’s account in November 2022 based on the results of a poll posted on the site. Around that time, Trump said he didn’t plan on returning to the site and that he preferred to post on the social media app he help found following his suspension, Truth Social.
Indeed, Trump has only posted once since the account was reinstated. It was a copy of his mugshot from the Fulton County Jail in Georgia.
Since then, Trump’s relationship with Musk has reportedly become closer. Audacy reported in May that Musk and the presumptive GOP candidate speak several times a month and that Musk, also known as the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, had basically become an advisor to Trump. Shortly before that report, Musk said on X that he wasn’t supporting “either” candidate for president in the U.S.
However, Bloomberg reported Friday that Musk “contributed to a low-profile group called America PAC, according to people familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity to detail his plans.” Though the size of the contribution is unclear, the sources said it was a “sizable amount.”
Bloomberg said the political action committee is working to elect Trump to the White House and that it is required to disclose its donor list Monday.
Though Trump has avoided posting on X much since he was reinstated, there have been frequent posts on his Facebook and Instagram accounts. For example, a “Wheel of Fortune” meme poking fun of a recent Biden gaffe was posted to both sites Friday.
Trump and Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Meta, have had a tense relationship in the past. In 2021, Audacy reported that a Georgia crowd chanted “Lock him up” about Zuckerberg after Trump claimed government officials in Georgia took $45 million “from Mark Zuckerberg to fund election-related activities.”
In the Friday update, Meta president of global affairs Nick Clegg said it wants to “ensure people can hear from political candidates on our platforms,” and that it “will review accounts subject to this protocol on a periodic basis to determine whether heightened suspension penalties for Community Standards violations remain appropriate.”
“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,” the post added.
Trump handily beat other Republican candidates in the primaries and is expected to officially become the GOP’s candidate this week, despite facing a mountain of legal issues. Prior to a debate with Trump last month, Biden was generally expected to be the Democratic candidate, but some from his own party are calling for him to step down by the time the Democratic National Convention is held next month due to concerns about age. Biden is 81 and Trump is 78.
According to Axios, Trump’s accounts were subject to stricter penalties than other Meta users – including account suspensions and advertising restrictions if he violated the company’s rules – following his suspension.
“While those penalties were designed to limit any public figure’s accounts during civil unrest, Donald Trump’s accounts were the only ones that have so far been subject to those restrictions, a spokesperson confirmed,” per the report. It also said neither of his Meta accounts have violated company policies during the restriction period.