Facebook Lifts Restrictions on Trump
WASHINGTON (NEWSnet/AP) — Facebook has lifted restrictions imposed on Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
The social media giant had initially banned the former president from using its platforms in 2021 after his supporters stormed the Capitol.
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, lifted that ban last year but announced Trump would be subject to “guardrails” such as “heightened suspension penalties” if posts violated its standards.
The company has now removed those restrictions, reasoning that while they were put in place following the “extreme and extraordinary circumstances” of the Capitol attack, Trump had not done anything to run afoul of them.
“In assessing our responsibility to allow political expression, we believe that the American people should be able to hear from the nominees for President on the same basis,” Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs wrote in a statement posted to the company’s website Friday.
Clegg added that both President Joe Biden and Trump are still subject to the same “community standards” that apply to all other users of the company’s platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.
These days, Trump has been posting frequently on his own Truth Social site, which he launched after Facebook and others suspended him.
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