Donald Trump has blasted Facebook’s 2021 decision to suspend his account after the platform's parent company, Meta, announced an end to the two-year ban.
The company said in a blog post it is adding "new guardrails" to ensure there are no "repeat offenders" who violate its rules, even if they are political candidates or world leaders.
Meta said Trump’s accounts will be restored "in the coming weeks" on both Facebook and Instagram.
Facebook had been a crucial source of fundraising revenue for Trump’s campaigns, which spent millions of dollars on the company's ads in 2016 and 2020.
The move, which comes as Trump is ramping up his third run for the White House, will not only allow Trump to communicate directly with his 34million followers — dramatically more than the 4.8million who currently follow him on Truth Social — but will also allow him to resume direct fundraising.
Responding to the news with a post on Truth Social, he said (sic): "FACEBOOK, which has lost Billions of Dollars in value since "deplatforming" your favorite President, me, has just announced that they are reinstating my account. Such a thing should never again happen to a sitting President, or anybody else who is not deserving of retribution! THANK YOU TO TRUTH SOCIAL FOR DOING SUCH AN INCREDIBLE JOB. YOUR GROWTH IS OUTSTANDING, AND FUTURE UNLIMITED!!!"
Facebook suspended Trump on Jan. 7, 2021, for praising people engaged in violent acts at the Capitol a day earlier.
But the company had resisted earlier calls — including from its own employees — to remove Trump's account.
Banned from mainstream social media, Trump has been relying on Truth Social, which he launched after being blocked from Twitter.
During the suspension, his supporters were able to raise money for him, but couldn't run Facebook ads directly from him or in his voice.
Nick Clegg, Meta’s vice president of global affairs, said: "The public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying — the good, the bad and the ugly — so that they can make informed choices at the ballot box."
Clegg added that when there is a "clear risk" to real-world harm, Meta will intervene.
He wrote: "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."
Other social media companies, including Snapchat, where he remains suspended, also kicked him off their platforms following the insurrection.
He was recently reinstated on Twitter after Elon Musk took over the company. He has not tweeted yet.
Civil rights groups and others on the left were quick to denounce Meta's move.
Letting Trump back on Facebook sends a signal to other figures with large online audiences that they may break the rules without lasting consequences, said Heidi Beirich, founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism and a member of a group called the Real Facebook Oversight Board that has criticised the platform’s efforts.
"I am not surprised but it is a disaster," Beirich said of Meta’s decision. "Facebook created loopholes for Trump that he went right through. He incited an insurrection on Facebook. And now he’s back."
NAACP President Derrick Johnson blasted the decision as "a prime example of putting profits above people’s safety" and a "grave mistake."
"It’s quite astonishing that one can spew hatred, fuel conspiracies, and incite a violent insurrection at our nation’s Capitol building, and Mark Zuckerberg still believes that is not enough to remove someone from his platforms," he said.
Clegg said that in light of his previous violations, Trump now faces heightened penalties for repeat offences.
Such penalties "will apply to other public figures whose accounts are reinstated from suspensions related to civil unrest under our updated protocol."
If Trump — or anyone else — posts material that doesn't violate Facebook's rules but is otherwise harmful and could lead to events such as the Jan. 6 insurrection, Meta says it will not remove it but it may limit its reach.
This includes praising the QAnon conspiracy theory or trying to delegitimise an upcoming election.
