The former US President’s accounts were blocked a day after his supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The blocked accounts of the former president of the United States, Donald Trump, on the online platforms Facebook and Instagram are released again. “We will end the suspension of Mr. Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks,” parent company Meta said on Wednesday. “The public must be able to hear what politicians are saying so they can make informed decisions.”
Trump’s accounts were blocked a day after radical supporters of the then president stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. Meta-policy chief Nick Clegg said “new protective barriers” had been put in place to avoid violations of platform rules. Trump would face “heavier penalties for repeat offenders” because of his past user rules violations, Clegg said. If Trump posts additional content that violates the User Rules, “the content will be removed and he (Trump) will be banned for a period of one month to two years, depending on the severity of the violation.”
Trump: “Things like this should never happen again…”
Trump responded to the meta decision on his own platform, Truth Social. Referring to his ban in January 2021, he stated, “Things like this must never happen again to a sitting president or anyone else who doesn’t deserve retribution.”
Meta – then still Facebook – blocked Trump’s accounts on the platforms a day after the Capitol storm with five dead. The online giant, founded by Mark Zuckerberg, later set the duration of the ban at two years from the date of the block on January 7, 2021. At the end of that time, experts would check whether the “risk to public safety” had diminished.
A Trump lawyer recently wrote to Zuckerberg asking that the former president’s Facebook account be released. “The suspension of President Trump’s Facebook account has dramatically distorted and impeded public discourse,” wrote Trump attorney Scott Gast. The republican should not be “gagged”, not least because he is a candidate for the 2024 presidential elections.
feedback on twitter
In addition to Facebook and Instagram, other online platforms have blocked Trump’s user accounts, citing fears of further violence. Short message service Twitter lifted its ban on the right-wing populist in mid-November last year, a few weeks after it was acquired by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. Shortly before, Trump had announced that he wanted to run again in the November 2024 presidential election.
The former president, whose most important mouthpiece was Twitter, has yet to post new tweets. The 76-year-old previously said he wanted to focus on the online platform Truth Social, which he founded.
However, Trump is far from reaching as wide an audience via Truth Social as he once did via Twitter. Basically, his presidential candidacy did not develop the momentum he had hoped. Many Republicans want to enter the next presidential race with a candidate other than the controversial former president, whom they blame for the party’s poor performance in last November’s midterm elections.
(APA/Portal)