After Twitter, Meta to restore Donald Trump's Facebook, Instagram accounts

By Team Newsable | First Published Jan 26, 2023, 2:05 PM IST

Last November, Donald Trump (76) announced he would run for President again in 2024. Before his account got suspended, Trump had 34 million Facebook followers and 23 million Instagram followers.

Meta Platforms Inc has said it will restore former US President Donald Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts, suspended following the Capitol Hill riots on January 6, 2021.

In November of last year, Donald Trump (76) announced he would run for President again in 2024. Before his account got suspended, Trump had 34 million Facebook followers and 23 million Instagram followers.

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On Wednesday, Meta's President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, through a blog post, said the suspension was made in an extraordinary decision. Clegg believes that the people should be able to hear what politicians want to say to make informed decisions.

Clegg said that under Meta's new newsworthy content policy if Meta determines that there is a public interest in knowing that Trump made a statement that outweighs any potential harm, it may choose to limit the distribution of such posts while still keeping them visible on his account.

We allow people to speak, even if what they have to say is offensive or inaccurate. Democracy is messy, and people should be able to express themselves, said Clegg.

He continued that it is necessary and possible to draw a line between harmful content that should be removed and content that, however distasteful or inaccurate, is part of life in a free society.

Clegg said that Meta had implemented new safeguards to deter repeat offences.

Facebook is not only the world's largest social media platform, but it's also an important source of fundraising for Trump's political campaigns.

In its post on Truth Social, Trump said, "FACEBOOK, which has lost Billions of Dollars in value since de-platforming your favourite President, me, has just announced that they are reinstating my account. Such an act should never be repeated against a sitting President or anyone else who does not deserve retribution."

After Elon Musk took over Twitter, the company reinstated Trump's account in November last year.

(With inputs from PTI)'

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