Jan 25 (Reuters) – Following a two-year suspension following the fatal Capitol Hill riot on January 6, 2021, Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) announced on Wednesday that it will reinstate former United States President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks. The suspension was placed immediately following Trump’s inauguration as president of the United States.
Trump, who declared in November that he will make another run for the White House in 2024, could receive a boost from the restoration of his accounts if it proves to be successful. He has 34 million followers on Facebook and 23 million followers on Instagram, both of which are important platforms for political outreach and fundraising respectively.
One day after the unrest, Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive officer of Facebook and Instagram, made the announcement that Donald Trump’s account handles on those two platforms would be suspended because Trump had used those platforms to “incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.”
Following the suspension of Donald Trump’s account, Meta referred its decision to the Oversight Board. The Oversight Board is an expert body that was established to serve as an independent check and balance on the company’s decision-making. Instead of imposing an indefinite ban on Trump, the board has instructed Meta to issue a suspension order that includes more time constraints.
According to a statement released by Meta on Wednesday, “The Board upheld the decision but criticised the open-ended nature of the suspension and the lack of clear criteria for when and whether suspended accounts will be restored.”
According to a statement released by Meta, “in light of his [Trump’s] violations, he now also faces heightened penalties for repeat offences.” These are the same penalties that will apply to other public figures whose accounts are reinstated from suspensions related to civil unrest under our updated protocol.
In the event that Mr. Trump posts any additional content that is deemed to be in violation of the terms of service, that content will be removed and he will be suspended for a period of time ranging from one month to two years, depending on the severity of the violation.
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Why It was happened?
In the meantime, the Oversight Board referred to the decision made by Meta as a “pivotal moment in the debate over the best way to handle harmful content posted by politicians on social media.” On the other hand, it urged Meta to provide additional details of its assessment so that it could review the implementation of the board’s decision and recommendations regarding this particular matter. Twitter
In addition, the board requested that Meta define the varying degrees of seriousness of violations committed by public figures in the context of civil unrest, as well as articulate the manner in which the policy on public figure violations in the context of civil unrest relates to the crisis policy protocol.
It has been two months since Trump has returned to Facebook and Instagram, and it was on November 20 that his account was reinstated on Twitter. Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of the social media company, had conducted a poll in which users were asked whether or not the account of the former president should be reinstated.
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