Social media giant meta announced that it is ending a suspension for two years of former US President Donald Trump from its Facebook and Instagram platforms.
Calling the suspension an “extraordinary decision made under exceptional circumstances,” Meta issued a press release on its website on Wednesday saying it would allow Trump to return to the platform. themselves “in the coming weeks”.
“Social media is rooted in the belief that open debate and the free flow of opinions are important values, especially at a time when they are under threat in many parts of the world,” said Nick Clegg , Meta’s president of global affairs, wrote in a release.
The suspension was originally issued on January 7, 2021, a day after Trump supporters storming the US Capitol in an attempt to circumvent the certification of the 2020 presidential election, which Republicans lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
In one of his last Facebook messages before his suspension, Trump continued to spread misinformation about the election results, reiterating lie that the vote was ruined by fraud.
He also used the platform to denounce his vice president, Mike Pencewho supervised the certification of the vote.
“Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and Constitution, giving the States the opportunity to attest to a edited set of facts, not fraudulent or inaccurate facts to which they were previously asked to certify,” Trump wrote at the time.
In Wednesday’s decision, Meta said it aims to “assess whether the serious risk to public safety that existed in January 2021 has subsided,” determining that it has.
However, Meta said it would put in place “new safeguards to prevent repeat offences”. Among them are “increased penalties” for repeat offenders, with additional suspensions that can last from one month to two years.
It also pledged to limit the distribution of posts that could contribute “to the kind of risk that materialized on January 6,” in the attack on the Capitol, citing the text “authorizing an upcoming elections”.
Meta also “may temporarily restrict access to our advertising tools” in the event of repeated violations. The company said these penalties would also apply to “other celebrities whose accounts were reinstated following the suspension related to the civil unrest.”
The company has faced criticism for not doing more to moderate hate speech, misinformation and other content rule violations. For example, in 2021, Rohingya refugees File a lawsuit against Facebook owners for their alleged role in promoting violence against ethnic groups in Myanmar.
Meta recently announced that they will be removing “content that advocates or praises” the storm of government building in Brazil on January 8, during another incident of far-right supporters try to overturn an election. That attack has been widely compared to the 2021 Capitol riots in the United States.
But Meta’s efforts to limit posts with misinformation, violence, and other messages that could violate the platform’s rules have been met with stiff resistance from the highest levels of government. In the world.
Figures like former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte have denounced Meta’s removal of controversial accounts and documents, as well as prominent US Republicans.
Trump founded his own social media company, Social Truthafter he was removed from Meta and other social media companies.
On Wednesday, he posted on his Truth Social account about his reinstatement of Facebook and Instagram, saying: “Such a thing should never happen to a sitting President or anyone else. unworthy of punishment!”
Earlier this month, the former president’s lawyers sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta, asking him to be reinstated. trumpet announced in November that he plans to run for a second term as president in 2024.
That same month, Trump has been restored to social media platform Twitter after new owner Elon Musk held an online poll on whether to bring the former president back.
