As promised a couple of weeks ago, Meta has now reactivated the official Facebook and Instagram accounts of former US President Donald Trump (via Gizmodo). He was banned from both social networks shortly after the January 6, 2021 riots in the US Capital building in Washington DC.
Meta's president of global affairs Nick Clegg previously said that when the accounts came back online, the company will be keeping a close eye on those pages:
In light of his violations, he now also faces heightened penalties for repeat offenses — penalties which will apply to other public figures whose accounts are reinstated from suspensions related to civil unrest under our updated protocol. In the event that Mr. Trump posts further violating content, the content will be removed and he will be suspended for between one month and two years, depending on the severity of the violation.
He added that some posts might not violate Meta's rules but still could contain objectionable content, such as posts that "delegitimizes an upcoming election or is related to QAnon." In those cases, posts could be kept off people's feeds while still be accessible directly on Trump's account. Those same posts might also not get access to the company's advertising tools.
Trump's similar ban on Twitter was done away with in November 2022 by its CEO Elon Musk. At the time of this writing, Trump has yet to post new content from any of these social platforms. That may be due to a rumored exclusive contract with Truth Social, the social network he helped to fund. That contract is expected to expire in June 2023.
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