The Blubber

Meta announced on Friday that it is lifting previously imposed penalties and restrictions on former President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts as the 2024 U.S. presidential election approaches.

Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, explained in a Friday blog post that the original suspension and penalties “were a response to extreme and extraordinary circumstances, and have not had to be deployed.”

“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,” Clegg wrote. “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.”

A Meta spokesperson described the update as “simply bringing presumptive GOP nominee Trump to parity with President Biden.”

Initially, the company suspended Trump’s social media accounts in 2021 following the January 6 insurrection in Washington, D.C. Meta decided on a two-year suspension after determining that Trump’s actions, such as his praise for the Capitol rioters, posed a potential risk of inciting further violence.

In January 2023, Meta declared its intention to reinstate Trump on its platform, and he regained access to his accounts the next month. However, he remained subject to certain penalties and restrictions, which included the possibility of long suspensions for future violations.

With Meta’s latest decision, any future violations of the company’s community guidelines by Trump will now result in significantly shorter suspensions, potentially lasting only a few days instead of the longer suspensions previously imposed.