Facebook and Instagram: Trump’s accounts reactivated

As of Thursday evening (local time), the Republican had not yet posted a new post on his profiles in the two networks. The Facebook group Meta announced two weeks ago that Trump could return to Facebook and Instagram.

Trump’s accounts on several major online platforms were blocked after his supporters stormed the seat of the US Parliament in Washington in January 2021. At the time, he not only expressed sympathy for the rioters, but also incited the violent crowd with a speech. Trump had previously used his online channels for months to spread the repeatedly refuted claim that he was cheated out of a victory against Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. At the time, the platform operators feared that Trump could trigger further violence if he continued to incite his supporters.

Meta’s independent supervisory body, which can review decisions about content and accounts, recently decided that there was no longer a risk to public safety, as there was in January 2021. In November, the new Twitter owner Elon Musk had already unlocked Trump’s account with the short message service. However, the ex-president has not used it so far and has stuck with the Twitter copy he founded, Truth Social.