Meta to Reinstate Former President Donald Trump’s Accounts with New Guardrails in Place

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced Wednesday that it will reinstate former President Donald Trump’s accounts in the coming weeks.

Nick Clegg, president of global affairs at Meta, said the accounts will come with “new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses.” These guardrails will include “heightened penalties for repeat offenses — penalties which will apply to other public figures whose accounts are reinstated from suspensions related to civil unrest under our updated protocol.”

Clegg said that if Trump posts content that violates the platform’s policies, the content will be removed and he will be suspended for between one month and two years, depending on the severity of the violation.

The accounts were suspended in January 2021 following the Capitol attack. Clegg said the company determined that the risk to public safety has “sufficiently receded” to allow for the accounts to be reinstated.

The decision to reinstate Trump’s accounts comes after a period of intense debate over the power of social media companies to regulate the speech of public figures. It remains to be seen how the new guardrails will be enforced and how they will impact the future of political discourse on social media.