U.S. Presidential Election 2024 | Meta lifts “suspension penalties” from Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts

Meta indefinitely suspended Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts after he praised those who carried out violent attacks at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. His suspended accounts were restored in 2023, but with what Facebook and Instagram-parent Meta called “guardrails” in place

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump was shot at during a rally over the weekend [File] | Photo Credit: AP

In the months leading up to the U.S. presidential election, Meta has said that it will no longer subject Donald Trump—a former President and the Republican party nominee—to “heightened suspension penalties.”​

“In assessing our responsibility to allow political expression, we believe that the American people should be able to hear from the nominees for President on the same basis. As a result, former President Trump, as the nominee of the Republican Party, will no longer be subject to the heightened suspension penalties,” said Meta’s Nick Clegg in an update to a previously posted statement from early 2023.

In 2021, Meta indefinitely suspended Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts after he praised those who carried out violent attacks at the Capitol on January 6 that year. His suspended accounts were restored in 2023, but with what Facebook and Instagram-parent Meta called “guardrails” in place.

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However, the latest update allows Trump more flexibility than he has had for years, in the interest of allowing him to be heard as a politician possibly running for the U.S. presidency.

“With the party conventions taking place shortly, including the Republican convention next week, the candidates for President of the United States will soon be formally nominated. In assessing our responsibility to allow political expression, we believe that the American people should be able to hear from the nominees for President on the same basis,” noted Clegg’s statement, adding that the former president would still have to comply with Community Standards like other Facebook and Instagram users.

Trump has criticised mainstream social media platforms in strong terms in recent years; he has instead thrown his support behind the Truth Social platform that is associated with right-wing and far-right ideologies.