Tech company Meta will reactivate former US President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts “in the coming weeks” after being suspended for two years, according to president of global affairs Nick Clegg.
The information was advanced to the American news site Axios.
“We have always believed that Americans should be able to listen to the people who want to lead the country. We don’t want to get in the way,” Clegg said.
The decision sets a new precedent for how the Meta exposes world leaders, potentially influencing the 2024 US presidential election.
Facebook, like other social networks, suspended Trump after the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021 for breaking the rules and inciting violence.
“We just don’t want, if you return to our services, for you to do what you did on January 1. [de 2021]which is to use our services to delegitimize the 2024 election, just as they tried to discredit the 2020 election,” the former UK deputy prime minister said.
However, Trump accounts will not be reactive immediately as Meta engineers will need time to develop some new features needed to restrict some posts or ads features in the future if necessary.
Trump will be subject to new policies on restricting the accounts of public figures during civil protests. Meta may suspend the account of a public figure who violates our Community Guidelines for a period ranging from one month to two years.
The most serious violations will warrant a content creation restriction for six or 12 months, or a total account restriction for two years, if they are serious.
“If you post any more infringing content now, that content will be removed, of course, and you could be suspended for anywhere from a month to two years, depending on the severity of the infringing act,” Clegg said.
The president of global affairs also said that the company will have the power to act and will be able to impose different types of protections, including limiting the distribution of posts if you remove them or temporarily suspend access to its advertising tools.
“Indirect references to QAnon content, for example,” he noted.
Clegg said Meta did not speak to Trump or any of his representatives before making the decision and does not know if the former US president plans to use the accounts after they are reactivated.
“The company will always be available to explain and emphasize the policies that we have established. (…) I think it would help if Donald Trump’s team was as well informed as possible about where those lines are drawn and how those barriers are going.” to work,” Clegg said.
The reactivation of Trumo’s accounts will allow it to once again share information through its Facebook and Instagram pages, which have 34 million and 23 million followers, respectively.
Donald Trump was already reinstated on Twitter on November 19, 2022, four days after he declared his candidacy in the 2024 presidential election, but has yet to make any posts.
Last week, the former head of state had officially asked to be allowed to return to Facebook.
The lawyer Scott Gast sent a letter to the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, asking him “a meeting to discuss the prompt reinstatement” in that social network.
“We believe that the suspension of President Trump’s Facebook account has radically distorted and restricted public debate,” the January 17 letter read.
Source: TSF
