Meta Lifts Restrictions on Trump's Account as 2024 Election Draws Closer

(Photo by Kelly Sullivan/Getty Images for Facebook)

Folloing  the official announcement by Facebook on Friday, the platform has finally lifted the restritions  placed on the former President Donald Trump’s Meta and Instagram accounts.

The company said it was making the change in order to ensure equality among presidential candidates leading up to the 2024 election. 

Since the 45th president’s accounts were reinstated in January 2023, Trump’s accounts have been subject to much stricter penalties than other famous Meta users, which includes account suspensions and advertising restrictions if he violated the company’s policies. 

“With the party conventions taking place shortly, including the Republican convention next week, the candidates for President of the United States will soon be formally nominated,” Meta wrote in an update. 

“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,” it continued. 

Additionally, Meta said on Friday that the former president’s accounts will no longer be subject to additional penalties, while adding that this was in response to “extreme and extraordinary circumstances” and “have not had to be deployed.”

“All US Presidential candidates remain subject to the same Community Standards as all Facebook and Instagram users, including those policies designed to prevent hate speech and incitement to violence,” the social company added. 

Trump’s social platform bans were put in place after the January 6th protest, prompting him to create his own network, Truth Social, which he still utilizes as a public method of communication to express general opinions and to discuss his 2024 presidential campaign.

Meanwhile, Meta will now review heightened suspension penalties that remain appropriate in order to “ensure people can hear from political candidates on our platforms,” the company said.