Meta has said it is rolling back restrictions on former US President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, as the presumptive Republican nominee seeks to regain the White House in November.
The social media company headed by Mark Zuckerberg had indefinitely suspended Trump’s accounts following his praise of people who joined the deadly storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
He had also repeatedly spread misinformation about the election results, repeating the falsehood that the vote had been marred by fraud.
The company then reinstated his accounts in early 2023, but with heightened restrictions, saying it would monitor Trump’s posts for further violations that could result in another suspension of between one month and two years.
Trump, who will face off against US President Joe Biden, will no longer be subject to the additional monitoring, Meta said on Friday.
“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,” Meta said in its announcement.
“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,” Meta’s global affairs president Nick Clegg said in a statement.
The company said the presidential candidates remain subject to the same community standards as all Facebook and Instagram users, “including those policies designed to prevent hate speech and incitement to violence”.
