Meta to restore former US President Trump's Facebook, Instagram accounts

Meta Platforms Inc has said that it would restore former US President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, which were suspended following the Capitol Hill riots on January 6, 2021.

Trump, 76, announced in November last year that he would make another dash for the White House in 2024. Before his accounts got suspended, he had 34 million followers on Facebook and 23 million on Instagram.

‘Suspended under extraordinary circumstances’

“The suspension was an extraordinary decision taken in extraordinary circumstances,” Nick Clegg, president, Global Affairs, Meta, said in a blog post on Wednesday (January 25). “The public should be able to hear what politicians are saying so they can make informed choices,” he said.

Also read: US House panel recommends criminal charges against Trump for Capitol violence

Clegg asserted that under its new newsworthy content policy, if Meta assessed there was a public interest in knowing that Trump made the statement that outweighed any potential harm, it might opt to restrict the distribution of such posts but still leave them visible on his account.

‘Democracy is messy’

“We default to letting people speak, even when what they have to say is distasteful or factually wrong. Democracy is messy and people should be able to make their voices heard,” Clegg wrote.

“We believe it is both necessary and possible to draw a line between content that is harmful and should be removed, and content that, however distasteful or inaccurate, is part of the rough and tumble of life in a free society,” he said.

Also read: See no reason to return, Trump says after Twitter reinstates his account

Clegg said Meta had put new guardrails in place to deter repeat offences.

Facebook is not only the world’s largest social media site, but also a critical source of fundraising for Trump’s political campaigns.

Trump responds

In a post on Truth Social, Trump responded by saying: “FACEBOOK, which has lost Billions of Dollars in value since de-platforming 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 was reinstated by Twitter in November last year after Elon Musk took over the company.

(With inputs from Agencies)