Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram are set to be restored within weeks

Former President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts are being restored by Meta after a two-year suspension.

Trump’s accounts will be restored “in the coming weeks,” Meta’s global affairs president Nick Clegg said Wednesday.

Reinstatement will come with “new guard rails to deter repeat offenders,” Clegg said.

“In the event that Mr. Trump posts additional infringing content, the content will be removed and he will be banned for between one month and two years, depending on the severity of the violation,” Meta explained.

If Trump creates a post that violates Meta’s standards but falls within its definition of “newsworthy content,” meaning the public interest outweighs the potential harm, the company could let it stand while simultaneously narrowing its reach.

“In general, we don’t want to stand in the way of open, public, and democratic debate on Meta’s platforms — particularly in the context of elections in democratic societies like the United States,” Clegg wrote in a blog post.

“The public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying – the good, the bad and the ugly – so they can make informed decisions at the ballot box.”

Clegg told Axios, “We’ve always believed that Americans should be able to hear from the people who want to run the country. We don’t want to stand in the way of that.”

A Trump spokesman initially did not comment on the development.

Meta’s decision comes about a week after Trump’s campaign asked Meta to let him back on the platforms.

“We believe that the ban on President Trump’s Facebook account has dramatically distorted and inhibited public discourse,” the Trump campaign wrote in a Jan. 17 letter to Meta.

Trump was banned from Facebook and Instagram the day after the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. The social media giant said Trump broke his rules and suspended his accounts to prevent him from inciting further violence.

Reinstatement will allow Trump to run campaign ads through his Facebook and Instagram accounts, where he has 34 million and 23 million followers, respectively.

Trump’s Twitter was recently restored after being taken over by Elon Musk. He hasn’t tweeted yet.

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