As the former U.S. President, Donald Trump gears up for the next elections, Meta Platforms Inc has restored his access to Facebook and Instagram, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone confirmed on Thursday, following a two-year suspension after the deadly Capitol Hill riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
Meta in January said it would lift Trump’s suspension “in the coming weeks” and would institute heightened penalties of a suspension between one month and two years if the former president violated its content policies again.
Trump now regains access to key platforms for voter outreach and political fundraising ahead of another run for the White House in 2024. He had 23 million followers on Instagram and 34 million on Facebook as of January.
NBC News had earlier reported that Trump’s campaign formally petitioned Meta to unblock his account.
According to a copy reviewed by NBC News, Trump’s campaign wrote in its letter to Meta: “We believe that the ban on President Trump’s account on Facebook has dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse.”
The campaign however, did not threaten a lawsuit. Instead, it had emphasised the importance of free speech and had petitioned Meta for a “meeting to discuss President Trump’s prompt reinstatement to the platform”.
