Meta To Restore Donald Trump’s Facebook, Instagram Accounts After Two-Year Suspension

Donald Trump will be allowed back onto Facebook and Instagram after Meta announced it would be ending its two-year suspension of his accounts.

Meta made the announcement of its decision to restore former president Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts on Wednesday, saying that it would do so in “the coming weeks.”

In a statement, Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, said the public “should be able to hear what their politicians are saying”.

As a general rule, we don’t want to get in the way of open debate on our platforms, esp in context of democratic elections. People should be able to hear what politicians are saying – good, bad & ugly – to make informed choices at the ballot box. 1/4

— Nick Clegg (@nickclegg) January 25, 2023

The company was expected to weigh in sometime this month on Trump’s fate. Meta’s semi-independent external policy committee the Oversight Board declined to decide the case itself when given the chance, but it did push the company to set a timeframe for Trump’s suspension back in 2021. That two-year suspension period expired this month.

The Oversight Board criticized Meta at the time for making up new rules for Trump’s open-ended punishment, which it issued after the former president incited violence during the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.