Meta Platforms said it will restore former US President Donald Trump‘s Facebook and Instagram accounts, which were suspended following the unrest on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021. The 76-year-old Trump announced in November of last year that he would make another run for the White House in 2024.
Before his accounts were suspended, he had 34 million followers on Facebook and 23 million on Instagram. “The suspension was an extraordinary decision taken under extraordinary circumstances,” Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, said in a blog post on Wednesday.
“The public should hear what politicians have to say so they can make informed decisions,” he said. Clegg argued that if the Meta assesses that there is a public interest in knowing that Trump has made a statement that outweighs any potential harm, under its new policy on news content, it can decide to limit the distribution of such posts but still let them visible on your account.
Clegg said “We let people talk, even if what they say is tacky or factually wrong. Democracy is messy and people should have a voice,” We believe it is 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”.
Clegg said Meta has put in place new barriers to prevent repeat offences.” Facebook is not only the largest social network in the world, but also an important source of funds for Trump’s political campaigns.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump responded by saying, “FACEBOOK, which has lost a billion dollars in value since ‘deplatforming’ your favorite president, me, has just announced that it is restoring my account. Something like this should never happen again to a sitting president or anyone else who doesn’t deserve retribution. Trump was reinstated by Twitter last November after Elon Musk took over the company.
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