- Meta has announced it will reverse Donald Trump’s permanent ban.
- The former reality TV star’s account will however be closely monitored and could be banned for violations.
- Trump reportedly has an exclusivity contract with Truth Social and it isn’t clear whether he will rush back to Facebook and Instagram.
Back when it was still Facebook, Meta made the decision to ban Donald Trump. The ban came in the wake of the 6th January assault on the US Capitol Building in Washington.
At the time, Meta chief executive officer and founder, Mark Zuckerberg described the events as shocking.
“His decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the Capitol building has rightly disturbed people in the US and around the world,” Zuck said in 2021.
Now, President of Global Affairs at Meta, Nick Clegg has announced that the ban is being removed.
The reason that the ban is being removed, as Clegg writes, is because Meta no longer believes there is a serious risk to public safety.
“To assess whether the serious risk to public safety that existed in January 2021 has sufficiently receded, we have evaluated the current environment according to our Crisis Policy Protocol, which included looking at the conduct of the US 2022 midterm elections, and expert assessments on the current security environment. Our determination is that the risk has sufficiently receded, and that we should therefore adhere to the two-year timeline we set out. As such, we will be reinstating Mr. Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks. However, we are doing so with new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses,” says Clegg.
Those guardrails include a clause which Meta says applies to all accounts from public figures that have been suspended. This includes the ability for Meta to remove a Trump post that violates its terms of services as well as handing the former president a ban that could last for a month and up to two years depending on the severity.
But Meta is going a step further and Trump’s content will be under a magnifying glass. Content that delegitimises an upcoming election, spreads QAnon guff or anything else that leads to a real-world risk will have a limited reach and may see Trump’s advertising tools restricted.
As we reported last week, advertising on Facebook gives Trump the ability to call for donations to his second bid for office. The former president claimed, without providing any sort of evidence that his ban had cost Meta $700 billion.
With the former president set to make a return to Meta one has to wonder how advertisers will feel. As Reuters reports, advertisers don’t seem perturbed especially in the face of a recession which is likely more important. With that having been said, civil rights organisations are not pleased that Trump’s ban has been lifted.
Trump hasn’t returned to Twitter despite his ban being lifted and we have to wonder whether he will return to Facebook. The former reality TV star appears to have an exclusivity contract with his own Truth Social. That contract is set to elapse in June so we suspect that as we edge closer to that date, we’ll know more.
While Trump has announced his bid for office in 2024, the Republican party is yet to announce who it will back in those elections. While Trump is a popular candidate, so is Florida Man Ron DeSantis whom many believe is set to be the Grand Old Party’s top pick.
