Meta announced last month that former President Donald Trump’s accounts would be reinstated “in the coming weeks,” and today is the day.
Meta has finally let former President Donald Trump out of Facebook and Instagram jail after banning him indefinitely following the Jan. 6, 2021,Capitol riot, according to numerous outlets. "It took over two years to undo something that never should have happened in the first place. Facebook needs to commit to never doing this again," said MRC President Brent Bozell in a statement.
Meta President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg explained in a Jan 25 press release that Meta would reinstate Trump’s account now that “the serious risk to public safety” had “sufficiently receded.” Clegg however didn’t seem too concerned about Chinese and Russian-affiliated accounts or the actual dictators using his platform.
He also noted that Meta would restore Trump’s account in response to the Oversight Board, which approved of Meta restricting Trump’s speech but still had one complaint: Trump’s indefinite suspension had no basis in Facebook policy. The pro-free speech internet knew that but for Meta, it took a bunch of leftist technocrats to state the obvious.
"Facebook really stepped in it when it banned the sitting President of the United States from being able to communicate with Americans. That action was one of the most anti-American things it could have done,” MRC Free Speech America Vice President Dan Schneider said. He continued:
“Reversing its decision is a good start, but continuing to allow its radical Oversight Board, composed mostly of liberals from foreign countries, to control President Trump's future is outrageous. Mark Zuckerberg should back up his Free Speech talk by permanently dissolving this censorship board."
Facebook and Instagram’s parent company also flexed “new guardrails” to supposedly “deter repeat offenses.”
According to Clegg’s statement, Trump will face “heightened penalties for repeat offenses” of its Community Standards. These penalties will also apply to “other public figures whose accounts are reinstated from suspensions related to civil unrest.”
Future violations of Meta’s Community Standards could land Trump in Meta jail from one month to two years, depending on the infraction’s severity.
MRC Free Speech America’s unique CensorTrack database has documented over 5000 cases of censorship and 28 percent of total entries included were perpetrated by Meta.
MRC Free Speech America Researcher and Video Creator Paiten Iselin contributed to this report.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
