Facebook and Instagram will reinstate Trump after two-year ban

Key Points

• Meta will allow former President Donald Trump to return to Facebook and Instagram, the company announced Wednesday.
• The decision comes two years after Trump's suspension on Facebook was enacted following the 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
• At the time, platforms including Facebook determined that blocking Trump's accounts outweighed the risk of potential further incitement of violence.

In this article

• META

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An image of President Donald Trump appears on video screens before his speech to supporters from the Ellipse at the White House in Washington on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, as the Congress prepares to certify the electoral college votes.

Bill Clark | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images

Meta will allow former President Donald Trump to return to Facebook and Instagram, the company announced, two years after his suspension was enacted following the 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

"As a general rule, we don't want to get in the way of open, public and democratic debate on Meta's platforms especially in the context of elections in democratic societies like the United States," Nick Clegg, Meta's president of global affairs, wrote in a blog post announcing the decision. "The public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying the good, the bad and the ugly so that they can make informed choices at the ballot box."