Donald Trump could be allowed back on Facebook before the 2024 election, The former president’s account suspension will expire in 2023, said Nick Clegg, president of global affairs at Meta. He was speaking at the Semafor Exchange event in Washington, DC on Thursday.
Trump may be allowed back on Facebook for the 2024 election season
Clegg handles the account reactivation process and revealed that Trump could be back on the platform next year.
Meta will take a final decision based on consultation with experts and an analysis of the risk of damage. This is the first time that Clegg is in charge of deciding to lift the limit. Clegg discussed in the interview that he will make a choice accordingly.
“When you make a decision that affects the public realm, you need to act with great caution,” Clegg told Semafor editor-at-large Steve Clemons. “You shouldn’t throw your weight about.”
Clegg’s statement will possibly not be liked by people in Washington. The conservatives have questioned the social media company for censoring speech. Liberals, on the other hand, have desired to restrict the platform from showing hate speech or “toxic content”.
For Meta, Clegg highlighted that the validity or emotion behind specific content was not the driving factor in the decision. “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 added.
Meta’s decision will also directly impact Trump’s expected 2024 presidential campaign. Trump will be challenged for the Republican nomination from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, DailyMail reported. Although neither Trump nor DeSantis have officially declared their intention to run for the White House.
Why was Trump banned from social media?
Trump had over 35 million followers on Facebook and his account got banned in 2021 following his comments allegedly provoking violence before the Capitol insurrection. He was also banned from Instagram and Twitter soon after as a result of the January 2021 riots at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.
He has gained a following of 4 million on the nascent Truth Social platform he assisted in launching himself. However, the platform has not come in competition with prominent social media platforms.
Last year, YouTube released a statement that it would lift Trump’s account suspension provided the risk of violence has lessened. But Twitter has permanently banned Trump from the micro-blogging platform. However, Elon Musk proposed to buy Twitter for $44 billion and said he would permit the ex-president back on the platform if he owned the company.
