Meta Platforms said on Friday that all restrictions placed on former President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts will be lifted, ensuring an equal footing for the two leading presidential candidates ahead of the November election.
In January 2023, Meta reinstated former President Trump after previously banning him in the wake of the January 6th Capitol riot. Since the accounts were reactivated, Trump has been subject to harsher penalties and stricter regulations than other platform users. These restrictions limited the accounts’ reach, imposed limits on advertising, and carried the threat of another ban if he violated any of Meta’s rules of conduct. The rules technically apply to any public figure’s account during a time of public unrest, but so far only Trump has actually been subject to the rules.
Trump’s accounts notably did not violate any of these rules since being reinstated.
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“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,” Meta President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg said in a statement first reported by Axios. “In reaching this conclusion, we also considered that these penalties were a response to extreme and extraordinary circumstances, and have not had to be deployed.”
Meta further indicated that the restrictions were lifted out of concern that a minor infraction could result in an automatic two-year ban, preventing him from communicating with voters in the months before the election.
While the stricter penalties have been lifted, Meta will retain the ability to limit the distribution of posts that promote“problematic content,” such as subtle references to the QAnon theory.
Related: Meta Updates Hate Speech Policy to Remove Posts Targeting “Zionists”
In addition to being banned from all Meta platforms, Trump was also kicked off of Twitter as punishment for his role in January 6th. After Elon Musk’s takeover of the platform in 2022, Trump was reinstated on that app as well. However, the former president has only posted one single time since then, returning to upload his mugshot after being arrested in Fulton County, Georgia.
Trump’s contractual obligation to Truth Social, which was created after his exile from all other social platforms, has largely prevented him from engaging on other sites.
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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