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Meta allows Donald Trump back on Facebook and Instagram The social media company
is letting a two-year ban, imposed after Trump supporters stormed the U.S.
Capitol, expire.


TECHNOLOGY


META ALLOWS DONALD TRUMP BACK ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM

 * Facebook
 * Twitter
 * Flipboard
 * Email

Updated January 25, 20236:24 PM ET Originally published January 25, 20235:22 PM
ET

Shannon Bond

Twitter

META ALLOWS DONALD TRUMP BACK ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM

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Suspending former President Donald Trump's account was the most high-profile and
controversial content moderation decision Facebook parent Meta has ever made.
Alon Skuy/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Alon Skuy/AFP via Getty Images


Suspending former President Donald Trump's account was the most high-profile and
controversial content moderation decision Facebook parent Meta has ever made.

Alon Skuy/AFP via Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump will be allowed to return to Facebook and
Instagram more than two years after he was banned for inciting violence when his
supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump's accounts will be reinstated "in the coming weeks" with new guardrails
"to deter repeat offenses," Nick Clegg, president of global affairs at
Facebook's parent company Meta, said on Wednesday.


UNTANGLING DISINFORMATION


ELON MUSK ALLOWS DONALD TRUMP BACK ON TWITTER

The "serious risk to public safety" that led Meta to suspend Trump in January
2021 "has sufficiently receded," Clegg wrote in a blog post. Still, he said,
Trump would face "heightened penalties" should he continue to break Meta's
rules, including removal of his posts and even a fresh two-year suspension.

"The public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying – the good,
the bad and the ugly – so that they can make informed choices at the ballot box.
But that does not mean there are no limits to what people can say on our
platform," Clegg said.


TRUMP'S SUSPENSION WAS CONTROVERSIAL, AND SO IS HIS REINSTATEMENT

Suspending Trump's account was the most high-profile and controversial content
moderation decision Meta has ever made. Now its move to reinstate him thrusts
the company back into the middle of a contentious debate over tech platforms'
power to determine who gets a voice online.



In a statement on Truth Social, the company Trump helped create and financially
back, the former president said: "FACEBOOK, which has lost Billions of Dollars
in value since 'deplatforming' your favorite President, me, has just announced
that they are reinstating my account. Such a thing should never again happen to
a sitting President, or anybody else who is not deserving of retribution!"

Trump's campaign had formally petitioned Meta to reinstate him, saying the ban
had "dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse."

Meta's announcement drew immediate blowback from civil rights and advocacy
groups.

"[Meta CEO] Mark Zuckerberg's decision to reinstate Trump's accounts is a prime
example of putting profits above people's safety," said NAACP President Derrick
Johnson. "It's quite astonishing that one can spew hatred, fuel conspiracies,
and incite a violent insurrection at our nation's Capitol building, and Mark
Zuckerberg still believes that is not enough to remove someone from his
platforms."

Wendy Via, president of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, warned
Trump's reinstatement will reverberate worldwide.

"Authoritarian-leaning politicians everywhere are watching, and they will
celebrate this decision," she said. "They have already been inspired by Trump's
successful manipulation of Facebook and its lax rule enforcement for the
politically powerful. These far-right leaders will simply ramp up their use of
Facebook to spread misinformation to build their base, contributing to political
violence and an increase in far-right governments."




FACEBOOK IS A POWERFUL FUNDRAISING TOOL FOR TRUMP'S 2024 CAMPAIGN

Whether or how Trump will return to posting on Facebook is unclear. He has not
resumed posting on Twitter and has an agreement with Truth Social to post there
first.

Meta's decision to reinstate Trump lands in a social media landscape that has
changed markedly in the past two years. Facebook is attempting to reinvent
itself as a "metaverse company" in a move away from its social networking
origins. In 2022, the company announced declines in revenue and users for the
first time.


TECHNOLOGY


FROM TWITTER CHAOS TO TIKTOK BANS TO THE METAVERSE, SOCIAL MEDIA HAD A ROCKY
2022

Twitter is in chaos under the ownership of billionaire Elon Musk, who reversed
his platform's ban on Trump in November after polling the site's users.

And a raft of alternative social media sites — from Truth Social to Gettr,
Parler and Gab — are wooing conservatives who have long accused the bigger
networks of muzzling their political views.


ELECTIONS


WITH MIDTERM LOSSES, TRUMP'S CLIMB TO THE NOMINATION COULD BE STEEPER THAN HE'D
LIKE

Still, regaining his Facebook account, which had 35 million followers when it
was suspended, is likely to be a boon as Trump seeks the presidency in 2024.
While he famously used Twitter on the campaign trail and in office to announce
policy, indulge fans and goad enemies, Facebook was a major engine of his
fundraising efforts, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign
contributions. (Trump's campaign page was not affected by the ban and has
continued to raise money via Facebook.)


POLITICS


WHY FACEBOOK'S DECISION ON TRUMP COULD BE 'MAKE OR BREAK' FOR HIS POLITICAL
FUTURE


TRUMP CONTINUES TO AMPLIFY FALSE ELECTION FRAUD CLAIMS AND OTHER CONSPIRACY
THEORIES ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Facebook initially suspended Trump indefinitely in the days after the Capitol
insurrection. That decision was slammed by the company's Oversight Board — an
outside group of legal experts, human rights scholars, and former journalists
and politicians created and funded by Meta — as vague. In June 2021, Facebook
revised the penalty to a two-year ban, said it would only reinstate Trump "if
the risk to public safety has receded," and vowed to consult experts before
doing so.



At that time, the company also set out new rules for public figures in times of
civil unrest and violence. On Wednesday, Clegg said in addition to removing
violating posts and suspending Trump if he again breaks the rules, Meta may also
limit the distribution of content "that contributes to the sort of risk that
materialized on January 6." For example, it could make those posts only visible
if a user went directly to Trump's Facebook page.


TECHNOLOGY


TRUMP SUSPENDED FROM FACEBOOK FOR 2 YEARS

Since his removal from mainstream social media, Trump has used Truth Social as
his main mouthpiece. There, he has continued to falsely claim that the 2020
election was stolen from him and amplified the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory
to his 4.78 million followers.

The advocacy groups Accountable Tech and Media Matters for America estimated
last month that more than 350 of Trump's Truth Social posts would directly
violate Facebook's rules against QAnon content, false election claims and
harassment of marginalized groups.

Democratic lawmakers had urged Meta not to reinstate Trump's account, arguing
that the risk to public safety continues. In a December letter to the company,
U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff of California and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island
pointed to Trump's posts on Truth Social casting doubt on the integrity of the
2022 midterm elections, continuing to deny his loss in 2020, and amplifying
accounts promoting QAnon-tied conspiracy theories.

"We have every reason to believe he would bring similar conspiratorial rhetoric
back to Facebook, if given the chance," they wrote.

 * truth social
 * Instagram
 * Facebook
 * meta
 * Donald Trump
 * social media

 * Facebook
 * Twitter
 * Flipboard
 * Email





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