Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has announced it will remove restrictions on former President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
On Friday, Meta said it will soon withdraw the restrictions it placed on Trump’s accounts, claiming the company has decided to do so because it wants to treat both presidential candidates equally ahead of the 2024 election, according to a report by Axios.
Meta President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg said, “In assessing our responsibility to allow political expression, we believe that the American people should be able to hear from the nominees for president on the same basis.”
While Trump’s previously banned Meta accounts were reinstated in January 2023, the 45th president has still, nonetheless, been subjected to stricter rules placed onto his Facebook and Instagram profiles.
The social media giant designed these unique rules specifically for the purpose of limiting a public figure’s accounts “during civil unrest,” Axios reported, noting that Trump is the only public figure Meta has placed these types of restrictions on so far.
Clegg reportedly noted “these penalties were a response to extreme and extraordinary circumstances.”
Trump has not violated Meta’s special rules for his accounts since being reinstated on the company’s platforms, but the social media giant nevertheless says it’s removing the restrictions due to concerns that Trump could do something that would send his accounts back into suspension during the final months before the election.
Given the unique restrictions currently placed on Trump’s accounts, even a “minor infraction” could trigger his Facebook or Instagram profile into a two-year suspension, Axios reported.
Once the special restrictions are removed from Trump’s accounts, he will be subjected to the same general rules that apply to all Meta users.
As Breitbart News reported, on January 7, 2021, Mark Zuckerberg blacklisted Trump from Facebook and Instagram platforms “indefinitely” following the events that took place on Capitol Hill the day before.
Around that time, the social media platform once known as Twitter also permanently banned Trump’s account.
Those bans inspired Trump to start his own social media platform, Truth Social, which he has since used as his primary bullhorn.
After a two-year ban, Meta restored Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. While the 45th president has resumed posting to his Meta accounts, it appears to be far less than his activity on Truth Social.
Meanwhile, Twitter was purchased by Tesla CEO Elon Musk last year and has since been changed to X. Trump’s account has been reinstated to X, but Trump has only posted one time on the platform since January 7, 2021.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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