Meta planning to announce decision on Donald Trump's return to Facebook and Instagram

Meta/Facebook is reportedly preparing to announce whether it will allow former President Donald Trump back on its platform, as per a report from Financial Times. The decision, which was initially expected to be made on January 7, 2023, is now expected to be announced later this month. Trump was suspended from Meta's Facebook and its subsidiary, Instagram, in January 2021 for inciting violence after a group of his supporters stormed the US Capitol. The decision will be overseen by Nick Clegg, Facebook's president of global affairs, and will be the biggest test of his authority since he took on an expanded role in February. It will also be the most polarizing moderation decision the tech giant has ever faced.

The outcome of the decision is expected to be divisive. Continuing to ban Trump from the platform could inflame tensions with Republican allies of the former president who accuse the company of censoring conservative views, while allowing his return could be viewed as irresponsible and harmful to democracy by left-leaning groups. Facebook has set up a working group to focus on the matter, which includes members from the public policy and communications teams, as well as the content policy team headed by Monika Bickert and the safety and integrity teams led by Guy Rosen.

The pros and cons

The decision will also have implications for Facebook's $118 billion-a-year business, potentially driving away activist advertisers who consider anyone who disagrees with them "dangerous", or bring in more business if his campaign chooses to advertise on the platform ahead of the 2024 election. In October, Clegg stated at a conference held by the Council for Foreign Relations: "We believe that any private company...should tread with great thoughtfulness when seeking to, basically, silence political voices". Trump's suspension from Facebook was upheld by the company's oversight board, a Supreme Court-style body made up of academics and experts that assesses moderation decisions. The board, which was instrumental in a setting up by Clegg, took issue with the lifetime ban and ordered Facebook to revisit its decision within two years. In June, the company stated that if the ban was lifted, there would be a "strict set of rapidly escalating sanctions that will be triggered if Mr. Trump commits further violations in the future," with the permanent removal of his pages and accounts being the harshest potential punishment.