The social networking giant Meta announced on Wednesday January 25 that it would, in the coming weeks, “end suspension” of Donald Trump’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram, two years after the exclusion of the former American president following the assault on Capitol Hill.
“The public must be able to hear what politicians are saying so they can make informed choices”justified Nick Clegg, the head of international affairs at Meta, in a press release.
“But that doesn’t mean there are no limits to what people can say on our platform. When there is a risk of harm in the real world – a high risk that justifies Meta’s intervention in the public debate – we act”he specified.
No more “security risks”
The Republican, presidential candidate of 2024, had been excluded from the social network on January 7, 2021, while he was still in power, for having encouraged his supporters during the attack on Congress in Washington the day before. This unprecedented decision was imitated at the time by most mainstream social networks, including Twitter.
In June 2021, Facebook had decided that the exclusion would last two years, and that the Republican billionaire could only return when the “risks to public safety” would have ” gone “. Suspension “should never again happen to a sitting president or anyone else who doesn’t deserve punishment!” »responded Donald Trump from his account on Truth Social, the social network he launched last year.
Create your own social network
Last week, the former president officially asked to be able to return to Facebook. His lawyer had written a letter to Meta founder and chairman Mark Zuckerberg, calling on him not to “Silence a presidential candidate”.
The politician had already been readmitted to Twitter on November 19, 2022, shortly after declaring his candidacy for 2024. However, he has not yet posted a message on this account, communicating mainly through his own platform, Truth Social. But the reach of Truth Social is much reduced compared to what Donald Trump had before.
“Calamitous decision”
“Trump needs (Facebook) to raise funds”recently pointed out on Twitter Andrew Selepak, professor specializing in media and technology at the University of Florida.
Meta a pris “the right decision. Like it or not, Mr. Trump is one of the leading political figures in the country and it is in the public interest to hear what he has to say”, reacted Anthony Romero, the director of the powerful association of civil rights ACLU. He further notes that “Some of the most shocking messages Trump has posted on social media have been used as evidence against him and his administration in lawsuits”.
“This is a calamitous and irresponsible decision by Meta, which will (…) fuel the spread of hatred and misinformation”for his part commented on the “real Facebook supervisory board”a very critical association of the social network.
New penalty grid
“We know that any decision on this subject will be fiercely criticized”, said Nick Clegg. Suspending a president from office was “an extraordinary decision, taken in extraordinary circumstances”he defended himself.
Meta determined that “the risk to public safety had sufficiently diminished” to let Donald Trump return, but with the new safeguards in place, in particular against repeat offenders, to deter new breaches of the rules of the two social networks.
The company had indeed adopted a new grid of sanctions in 2021, after a particularly tense American presidential campaign and the invasion of the Capitol on the day of the formalization of Joe Biden’s victory.
In addition to his support for his supporters that day, Donald Trump had been hammering out his theory of “Big Lie” – unfounded allegations that the 2020 presidential election was for him “volley”. “If Mr. Trump posts any infringing content again, it will be taken down and he will be suspended between one month and two years, depending on the seriousness of the offense”, detailed Nick Clegg. Meta will thus be able to curb the spread of messages that do not pose concrete risks but contribute to “undermining the legitimacy of an election”.