Donald Trump may have his accounts restored on Facebook in the coming year, following an investigation of the decision of the company to ban him as a top executive of Meta Platforms, the parent company of Meta Platforms said on Thursday.
Nick Clegg, president of Global Affairs for Meta The company’s global affairs president, Nick Clegg, told the event held at Washington, D.C. that Meta would seek advice from experts and assess the impact. Clegg made the announcement during an event to promote Semafor which is a new media startup.
“When making a choice that has an impact on the public you must act prudently. It is not advisable to be impulsive,” Clegg told Semafor’s Steve Clemons.
Facebook has removed Trump completely from its platform after his attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The Facebook Oversight Board later said that it was “not appropriate” of the company to suspend Trump without a timeframe, and directed Facebook to review its ruling “and respond in a way that is clear and proportionate,” Clegg said on the day of the incident. Facebook then suspended Trump for two years, which lasted up to Jan. 7th, 2023. After that Clegg said that Facebook will “evaluate external factors, including instances of violence, restrictions on peaceful assembly and other markers of civil unrest.”
Trump’s suspension was also a part of his Instagram account.
In the wake of the siege on January 6 at the Capitol, Trump also was exiled from other platforms, including YouTube as well as Twitter. Elon Musk had suggested Trump could be reinstated as the former president if he bought Twitter however the transaction is now a subject of lawsuits. Musk has been trying to pull from the acquisition. YouTube’s CEO has also said that the company would ease the ban if the threat that comes with “incitement to violence” recedes.
“If we think there is content on our platform which will lead to real-world harm, physical harm, then we feel we have a clear responsibility to act against it,” Clegg stated during the Semafor forum.
