Meta ends restrictions on Trump’s Facebook, Instagram accounts ahead of GOP convention

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Meta ends restrictions on Trump’s

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,

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accounts ahead of GOP convention

Restrictions that were placed on the

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and

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accounts of former President Donald Trump 17 months ago are being lifted, the platforms’ parent company Meta announced Friday.

In a

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Friday afternoon, Meta said that the decision was made to remove the restrictions ahead of the *********** National Convention, which begins Monday in Milwaukee. Trump is the presumptive *********** presidential nominee. 

“The ********* people should be able to hear from the nominees for President on the same basis,” Nick Clegg, Meta president of global affairs, wrote. “As a result, former President Trump, as the nominee of the *********** Party, will no longer be subject to the heightened suspension penalties.”

In an email to CBS News, Meta spokesperson Nkechi Nneji said that the company was “simply bringing presumptive GOP nominee Trump to parity with President Biden.”

In the days immediately after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, Trump’s accounts were suspended indefinitely when the company determined that his posts had potentially fueled and encouraged the ********* that took place that day. In June 2021, Meta, which at the time went by the name

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, issued Trump a two-year suspension on the accounts dating back to that January.

His accounts were reactivated in February 2023, but with the caveat that Meta would issue “heightened penalties for repeat offenses.”

On Friday, Meta lifted the threat of those penalties.

“In reaching this conclusion, we also considered that these penalties were a response to extreme and extraordinary circumstances, and have not had to be deployed,” Clegg said Friday. “All U.S. Presidential candidates remain subject to the same Community Standards as all

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and

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users, including those policies designed to prevent hate speech and incitement to *********.”

Trump has a combined 59 million followers on

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and

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. Trump’s X account, then known as

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, was also suspended in January 2021. It was reinstated in November 2022 by new owner Elon Musk after he posted a poll asking users whether to do so.

— Musadiq Bidar and Jo Ling Kent contributed to this report. 

Faris Tanyos

Faris Tanyos is a news editor for CBSNews.com, where he writes and edits stories and tracks breaking news. He previously worked as a digital news producer at several local news stations up and down the West Coast.

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#Meta #ends #restrictions #Trumps #

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#

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#accounts #ahead #GOP #convention

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