Major Announcement From Meta: Trump Coming Back to Facebook and Instagram

After a two-year ban from both Facebook and Instagram, social media sites owned by parent company Meta, it was announced today that former President Donald J. Trump’s accounts would be restored in the next few weeks.

On September 22nd, Meta Global President Nick Clegg stated they would be open to reinstating Trump’s accounts, but it might not occur until early January 2023. 

In an exclusive interview released today with Axios, Clegg gave the details regarding his decision to restore Trump’s accounts. He gave the rundown on when and how the accounts would be restored, stating, “Meta’s engineers will need time to build out some of the new functionality necessary to restrict certain posts or ad capabilities in the future if needed.”

Clegg also referred to Meta’s new policies for public figures, updated just today.

Additionally, Trump would be subject to a Crisis Policy Protocol created in August last year. The new policy allows the company to “assess the risks of imminent harm both on and off of our platform so we can respond with specific policy and product actions that will help keep people safe.”

While Twitter CEO Elon Musk restored President Trump’s account in November, there was no announcement made with the type of caveats made today by Clegg.

Musk stated at a Financial Times conference last May, “I think permabans just fundamentally undermine trust in Twitter as a town square where everyone can voice their opinion.” In late October, he assured followers and advertisers that his decision on Trump would be carefully measured.

“Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints,” Musk tweeted on October 28th. “No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.” After the results of a poll Musk conducted on Twitter in November, the decision to restore Trump’s account was announced on November 19th.