Washington DC, United States.- Meta Platforms Inc reported this Wednesday that it will restore the Facebook and Instagram accounts of former US President Donald Trump in the coming weeks, after a two-year suspension following serious riots at the Capitol on May 6. last January.
The social network noted that Trump’s posts could incite more violence. Trump’s accounts on other major social media services, including YouTube and Twitter, were also removed that week.
But Meta, which critics have accused of censoring Trump and other conservative voices, said Wednesday that it had decided to reverse the bans because it had determined that the risk to public safety had “sufficiently reduced” since January 2021.
“The public has to be able to hear what politicians are saying in order to make decisions,” said Nick Clegg, Meta’s head of international affairs.
The company noted that there will be sanctions again if Trump publishes false news or violent content.
“Should Trump post more violative content, the content will be removed and he will be suspended for anywhere from one month to two years, depending on the severity of the violation,” Meta noted.
Trump responds
Trump, in a post on his own social network, criticized Facebook’s decision to suspend his account while praising his own site, Truth Social.”FACEBOOK (sic), which has lost billions of dollars in value since it “deleted” to your favorite president, me, just announced they are reinstating my account,” he wrote.
“Something like this should never happen again to a sitting President, or anyone else who doesn’t deserve retribution!”
