Source: Restrictions on Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram lifted
Meta has lifted the final restrictions on Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the run up to US presidential elections in November.
The ex-US president and convicted felon’s accounts were suspended in 2021 after he praised supporters who stormed the US Capitol on 6 January.
Trump’s accounts, which combined have over 60 million followers, were re-instated in 2023 but subject to additional monitoring, which has now been removed, the social media giant said in a blog post.
Meta said it had a responsibility to allow political expression and that Americans should be able to hear from presidential nominees on an equal basis.
It added that 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.”
Since returning to Meta’s platforms, Trump’s accounts have mostly posted campaign details and memes including attacks on his presidential race rival Joe Biden.
Prior to his 2021 ban, Trump’s Facebook posts were often some of the most popular in the US, according to data at the time from CrowdTangle.
Trump is the first former president to be convicted of a crime and was also banned from Twitter and YouTube.
Restrictions on these accounts were also lifted last year, but despite this Trump communicates now on Truth Social, a social media platform he owns, before reposting to other networks.
Trump returned to Twitter – now called X – after the company’s CEO Elon Musk held a poll that asked users to click “yes” or “no” on whether Trump’s account should be reinstated. “Yes” won, apparently with 51.8% of the vote.
在 11 月美国总统大选前夕，Meta 取消了对唐纳德·特朗普 Facebook 和 Instagram 帐户的最后限制。 这位美国前总统和被定罪的重罪犯账户于 2021 年被暂停，因为他赞扬了 1 月 6 日袭击美国国会大厦支持者。 这家社交媒体巨头在一篇博客文章中表示，特朗普的账户总计拥有超过 6000 万粉丝，于 2023 年恢复，但受到额外监控，但现已取消。 Meta 表示，它有责任允许政治表达，美国人应该能够在平等的基础上听取总统候选人的意见。 Meta 补充说，美国总统候选人“仍然遵守与所有 Facebook 和 Instagram 用户相同的社区标准，包括旨在防止仇恨言论和煽动暴力的政策。” 自从回到 Meta 的平台后，特朗普的账户大多发布了竞选细节和表情包，包括对他的总统竞选对手乔·拜登的攻击。 根据 CrowdTangle 当时的数据，在 2021 年禁令之前，特朗普的 Facebook 帖子往往是美国最受欢迎的帖子之一。 特朗普是第一位被定罪的前总统，也被禁止使用推特和油管。 去年，对这些账户的限制也被取消，但尽管如此，特朗普现在在他拥有的社交媒体平台 Truth Social 上进行交流，然后再转发到其他网络。 在推特公司首席执行官埃隆·马斯克进行了一项民意调查，要求用户就是否应该恢复特朗普的帐户点击“是”或“否”后，特朗普重返推特（现在称为X）。 “是”获胜，获得了 51.8% 的选票。
