Facebook parent Meta will reinstate former President Donald Trump after keeping him off the platform for two years, the company announced on Wednesday.
“In general, we don’t want to get in the way of open, public, and democratic debate on Meta’s platforms — particularly in the context of elections in democratic societies like the United States,” Nick Clegg, the company’s global president of affairs, wrote in a blog post along the way.
“The public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying – the good, the bad, and the ugly – so they can make informed decisions at the ballot box,” he wrote.
The move comes two months after Trump announced he would run for re-election in 2024, though his campaign so far has been low-key and conducted mostly online. He had been thrown off the platform for violating the rules on incitement to violence.
Donald Trump may return to Facebook, Meta announced
The move comes after Twitter CEO Elon Musk lifted the Trump ban on the site imposed after the Capitol riot, though Trump has yet to use the platform.
It promises to impact the 2024 presidential campaign. Trump has a large following on social media but has posted on his own Truth Social website — and he has not retracted his repeated claims of a “stolen” election, despite a litany of lawsuits by his supporters being dismissed in court and at congressional meetings to count the votes certified by the states before and after the Capitol riot.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google blocked Trump after his campaign efforts.
Facebook does not verify the claims of political candidates, and competitor Twitter has cut moderation staff in the wake of firings and purges imposed by Musk.
“If Mr. Trump continues to post infringing content, the content will be removed and he will be suspended for a period of one month to two years, depending on the severity of the violation,” the company said.
Clegg, the UK’s former deputy prime minister, said the move “doesn’t mean there aren’t limits to what people can say on our platform”.
“When there is a clear risk of real-world harm — a deliberately high bar for meta to intervene in public discourse — we act,” he wrote.
News of the change comes as Trump seeks new ways to engage the public. A report on Wednesday revealed that he has started texting people he knows.
Trump attacked Facebook in a post on his Truth Social platform. He is seeking re-election but has conducted a low-key campaign. His online posts didn’t have the same reach as his Twitter and Facebook presence in his heyday
The company’s statement came from executive Nick Clegg, not company president Mark Zuckerberg
Trump now has the ability to post on Twitter and Facebook after launching a re-election campaign. He continues to reiterate claims of a “stolen” election despite states certifying Joe Biden’s victory
In recent days, he has used online platforms to blast Democrats in Congress and even sent around a link to a story about Joe Biden’s document saga.
Trump had the most followers on Facebook when he imposed the suspension.
The ban came amid a spate of voting misinformation in both the 2016 presidential election and the 2020 presidential election.
The January 6 House Committee examined the issue extensively, although it omitted pages of material in its final report.
After House Republicans took over the House, they vowed to crack down on “big tech,” which many Republicans have long argued has a bias against conservatives. Though deemed permissible by private companies that control their own platforms, the bans helped spark a backlash against language restrictions.
House Republicans are already preparing to investigate efforts to suppress information online about a report about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Meta and other platforms face a strict regulatory environment. On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced it would sue Google over its online advertising dominance.
Trump issued a statement attacking Facebook and praising his own platform.
“FACEBOOK, which has lost billions of dollars in value since it ‘deplatformed’ your favorite president, me, just announced they are reactivating my account. This should never happen again to an incumbent President or anyone who doesn’t deserve retribution! THANK YOU TRUTH SOCIAL FOR DOING SUCH AN INCREDIBLE JOB. YOUR GROWTH IS EXCELLENT AND THE FUTURE UNLIMITED!!!’ Trump wrote.
The company said public risk had “reduced sufficiently”.
Should he choose to do so, the new policy gives Trump a chance to try and play many of the same plays he’s done in his previous campaigns.
He plans to hold his first campaign rally in South Carolina in days. The platform allowed Trump to mercilessly attack his opponents, with his events broadcast online and sometimes over cable networks.
Tweets and other posts will allow him to attack both Biden and Democrats, as well as pressure Republicans in internal battles over power and spending.
During Speaker McCarthy’s fight for survival, Trump issued a printed statement of support and was seen dialing lawmakers on the phone in signs of influence on the House GOP.