The “guardrails” that were previously in place have been lifted by Meta, who asserts that candidates for president should be given the chance to speak with people
As the 2024 election draws near, Meta stated on Friday that it had removed earlier limitations on Donald Trump’s Instagram and Facebook accounts.
With “guardrails” in place, Trump was allowed to re-enter the social networks in 2023 after being banned for his online actions during the January 6 uprising. Now those barriers have been lifted.
“In considering our responsibility to enable political expression, we believe the American people should hear from the presidential nominees on equal terms,” Meta said on her website. The Republican National Convention, which will formally nominate Trump as the party’s nominee, was mentioned.
Meta therefore declared that Trump’s accounts will no longer be subject to harsh suspension penalties. Meta claims that although these sanctions were put in place to deal with “extreme and extraordinary circumstances,” they have never been used.
“All U.S. presidential candidates are subject to the same community standards as all Facebook and Instagram users, including policies to prevent hate speech and incitement to violence,” according to the business’s blog post.
Trump has mostly posted campaign materials, criticism of Democratic contender Joe Biden, and memes on his accounts since returning to Meta’s social media platforms.
Online safety experts and Trump critics are worried that if he returns, there may be more disinformation spread and calls for violence, just like there was during the Capitol brawl that resulted in his original ban.
Friday, the Biden campaign denounced Meta’s choice, characterising it as a “direct attack on our safety and democracy” and a “greedy, reckless decision.”
Campaign spokesman Charles Kretchmer Lutvak compared restoring his access to handing your car keys to someone you know will drive into a crowd and down a cliff. “It is elevating the voice of an authentic racist who intends to propagate his hatred and white supremacist ideologies and attempt to mainstream them.”
In addition to Meta platforms, other major social media companies banned Trump due to his online activity related to the January 6 attack, including Twitter (now X), Snapchat, and YouTube.
Elon Musk, who bought Twitter in 2022, allowed the former president back on the platform last year, though Trump has not tweeted since. He returned to YouTube in March 2023 but remains banned from Snapchat.
In early 2022, Trump launched his own social network, Truth Social.
