A former President of the United States, Donald Trump, has been granted access to his Facebook and Instagram accounts after a two-year ban.
Meta, the parent company of both social media platforms, announced in January that it was reconsidering the suspension of the politician’s accounts effected back in January 2021.
Meta’s President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, said the company carried out an assessment to determine “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,” he continued.
Clegg, however, added that the reinstatement will only come after some weeks in order to put in place “guardrails” which will “deter repeat offences.”
Trump’s tweets which fuelled the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the United State’s Capitol building had resulted in the suspension of his accounts on several social media platforms.
Following Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, Trump’s account on the platform was restored in November last year.
However, Trump has remained on his own platform, Truth Social, and has refused to engage in any activity on his Twitter page.
According to a statement provided by Meta’s spokesperson, Andy Stone, to New York Post, the tech giant has also restored Trump’s access to his Facebook and Instagram accounts on Thursday.
Checks on the former President’s account, @realdonaldtrump on Instagram, and @Donald J. Trump on Facebook also show that he has been reinstated on both platforms.
The restoration comes after Trump’s announcement of his bid for the United State’s 2024 presidential election.
