Meta will allow Donald Trump back on Facebook, sparking wave of criticism
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Meta will restore Donald Trump's access to his Facebook and Instagram accounts "in the coming weeks" but "with new guardrails in place" to prevent real-world harm, the company said in a blog post yesterday.
Facebook suspended Trump "following his praise for people engaged in violence at the Capitol on January 6, 2021," Meta President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg noted in the blog post. "We then referred that decision to the Oversight Board-an expert body established to be an independent check and balance on our decision-making. The Board upheld the decision but criticized the open-ended nature of the suspension and the lack of clear criteria for when and whether suspended accounts will be restored, directing us to review the matter to determine a more proportionate response."
After the board review, Facebook decided to make Trump's suspension last until at least January 7, 2023. "Now that the time period of the suspension has elapsed, the question is not whether we choose to reinstate Mr. Trump's accounts, but whether there remain such extraordinary circumstances that extending the suspension beyond the original two-year period is justified," Clegg wrote yesterday.