Facebook Instagram and human rights organizations have hit back at the “reckless” decision to allow Donald Trump to return to Facebook and Instagram.
The former US president was banned from using platforms along with Twitter after the riots in the Capitol in January 2021.
In a new blog post, Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, said Trump would be allowed to return to the two platforms “in the coming weeks” with “new fences to prevent repeat offenses.”
In response, initiative groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, Free Press and Media Matters, expressed concern about this step and said they were not sure whether these new measures would be enough to prevent similar problems in the future.
Media Matters for America CEO Angelo Carusone said: “Make no mistake — by allowing Donald Trump to return to his platforms, Meta is fueling the engine of Trump’s disinformation and extremism.
“When Trump is given a podium, it raises the temperature of an already seething landscape that puts us on a path of increasing violence.”
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said that restoring the accounts would again give Trump the opportunity to “spread hatred and incite violence.”
“There is no reason to believe that the former president will behave differently after the platform lifted his ban. This is not a matter of freedom of speech; there are many services that Trump can use to spread his message. It’s a business decision based on bigotry and disagreement to drive clicks and engagement, plain and simple.”
Elsewhere, Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowski said the move “will only fuel the flames of hatred and discord that led to the uprising.”
She added: “The Capitol community is still picking up the pieces of the January 6 uprising that Trump provoked, and now he is returning to the virtual crime scene.”
After years of broken of promises, I unfortunately do not expect this time to be any different. The Capitol community is still picking up the pieces from the January 6th insurrection that Trump ignited, and now he is returning to the virtual scene of the crime.
— Jan Schakowsky (@janschakowsky) January 25, 2023
In a statement explaining the move, Clegg added: “The public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying — the good, the bad and the ugly — so they can make an informed choice when voting.
If Mr. Trump publishes further content that violates the rules, this content will be removed and he will be suspended from work for a period of one month to two years, depending on the severity of the violation.”
The former US president was officially banned from using Twitter on January 8, 2021, two days after his supporters violently stormed the US Capitol building. Trump has long been criticized for using Twitter as a platform for extreme right-wing extremist views and hate speech; it was reported that after his ban, the amount of misinformation on the platform dropped sharply.
Shortly after acquiring Twitter in April, Elon Musk told his supporters that he would restore Trump’s account. After conducting a survey on the site last November, the controversial billionaire, who is also the owner of Tesla and SpaceX, fulfilled his promise.
In the same month, Trump announced that he would run for president again in 2024.
