The Internet company Meta Platforms, formerly better known as Facebook, which is behind the social media services Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, has announced that it wants to give former US President and highly controversial real estate marketer Donald Trump the opportunity to to be active on the company’s platforms.
Trump was suspended after his supporters attacked the US Senate seat
Facebook, Instagram and several other social media services immediately blocked Trump after thousands of right-wing extremists attacked the US Capitol in Washington, DC, in January 2021. The background was fears that he could call on and incite his followers to violence via the platforms. The US authorities are still investigating Trump, accusing him of an attack on the heart of US politics after he lost the election to current US President Joe Biden.
Meta had set up an internal commission to deal with decisions about the content available on the platform. This recently decided that Trump would remain blocked on Facebook and Instagram until at least January 7, 2023. However, Meta has always said it will not impose an “indefinite” ban on Trump.
According to Metas, the security risk has now decreased
in one Blog entry explained Nick Clegg, who works at Meta as President of Global Affairs, that after extensive consultations with unspecified experts, it was concluded that the risk had meanwhile decreased significantly. They therefore want to stick to the period of about two years set at the beginning of the blocking and now release Trump’s accounts “in the coming weeks”. Trump, who says he wants to run again as a candidate for the US presidency in 2024, must expect that Meta will control his profiles more closely in the future. According to Clegg, they want to introduce new “guard rails” without giving exact details. In addition, Trump was threatened with harsher penalties in the future if Instagram and Facebook guidelines were violated again.
Donald Trump’s user accounts currently have 23.3 million followers on Instagram and 34 million followers on Facebook. Trump is currently followed by around 4.78 million people on the “alternative” social network Truth Social, which he runs himself. On Twitter, where Trump has at least not been officially blocked since November after Elon Musk took over the platform, he has almost 88 million followers, but has not published any new postings there for a long time.
- Meta Platforms (Facebook) lifts the ban against Donald Trump, he can post on Instagram & Facebook.
- Suspension after attack on US Capitol 2021 will be lifted after approx. 2 years.
- New “guardrails” & tougher penalties for policy violations.
- Trump has his own social network & 88 million followers on Twitter.
- Commission deals with decisions on content.
- Fear that Trump could incite his supporters to violence.
- US authorities are still investigating Trump for behavior after a lost election.
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