Trump allowed back on Facebook and Instagram after two-year ban

Amna Nawaz:

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has cleared the way for former President Trump to return to the platforms in the coming weeks.

It comes two years after Trump was suspended following the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Twitter also recently reinstated the former president's account, but he hasn't tweeted since the decision.

Joining me now is Sheera Frenkel, who covers Meta and other social media platforms for The New York Times.

Sheera, welcome back to the "NewsHour." Thanks for joining us.

So, the company suspended him two years ago on January 7. They said they're only going to reinstate the account if conditions permit. So, what do we know about the decision to let him back on?

Sheera Frenkel, The New York Times:

Well, we know that, in the last two years, Meta hasn't communicated much about how they're making this decision, other than it'll be up to Nick Clegg, the former British prime minister.

They have spoken to civil disobedience groups and politicians. And I think, ultimately, what it came down to is, they see Trump running for office again, and they don't want to be in a position where they have a Republican nominee for president who is banned off of their social media platforms.

Amna Nawaz:

It was two years ago, though, they said that he posed a serious risk to public safety. That was part of the reason behind the ban.

Mr. Trump continues to repeat a lot of the same election lies that fueled the violence on January 6, so is Meta saying that that risk has gone away?

Sheera Frenkel:

Well, I — in the last day, I have spoken to two people who work at Facebook — at Meta, that is, and they're watching what Trump posts on TRUTH Social, his own social network site, which includes the same types of conspiracies of the 2020 elections. It includes conspiracies around the recent midterm elections.

So they're aware that he is very likely to share content on other social media platforms that he's given access to which are likely in violation of their rules. I think they're just sort of willing to roll the dice and play a sort of game with Trump at the moment of how far to the line will he get before they have to ban him or — temporarily or permanently once again?

Amna Nawaz:

They are watching what he's posting. Other groups are watching, as well as a coalition of civil rights, and technology policy, consumer protection groups, who actually sent a letter to the CEO Mark Zuckerberg and said he should make that ban permanent, because they have been tracking what Mr. Trump has been posting on TRUTH Social, his own social media platform.

And they say he's been posting things there that would absolutely violate Facebook's current standards. So, what is the company's plan to hold him accountable if he continues to post that kind of stuff, but on their platform?

Sheera Frenkel:

Well, I think they're still, honestly, figuring it out.

We saw some language in their statement yesterday that they could ban him for a period of weeks or even months. They could also choose to permanently ban him, it sounds like. But we don't have any clear guidelines. There isn't any three strikes and you're out sort of policy, which is something we know they have used in the past.

So it's unclear what Trump can do and say to get himself those sort of more temporary bans. Something else they have mentioned is that they could take action against his ability to advertise and fund-raise on Facebook. And I think, if you're sitting on the Trump campaign team for the 2024 presidential elections, that's something that's going to be worrying for you, because Facebook has been a major way, a major asset for his company to raise money — for his first campaign, I'm sorry, to raise money.

Amna Nawaz:

So, Mr. Trump had responded to the news his account would be reinstated on TRUTH Social.

He argued that such a thing should never happen again to a sitting president. He also went on to tout the growth of his platform, TRUTH Social.

But, Sheera, is there a chance he doesn't even end up posting anything on Facebook, similar to what we have seen with Twitter so far?

Sheera Frenkel:

Well, I think, for the time being, he's not likely to start posting. We know he has an exclusivity agreement with TRUTH Social, which takes him towards the beginning of this summer.

And so, even though he's been given access to his former Twitter page, his Twitter account, and now to Facebook and Instagram, we think the earliest he's likely to start posting is the summer, which is, coincidentally, exactly when the Republican Party primaries are likely to heat up for president.

Amna Nawaz:

At the end of all of this, if you step away from just this one incident, do you have a better sense of where the bar is for Facebook to remove some of these actors with particularly big platforms and followers when it comes to misinformation and the like?

I mean, we know the connection between online rhetoric and racist or hateful speech and real-world violence. Do you have a better sense of where their line is?

Sheera Frenkel:

You know, I have had a lot of conversations with Facebook, not just in the last 24 hours, but in the last two years since Trump was removed from the platform, about that exact question. Where's the line?

And their answer is always, we can't define a line, because the minute we do, the characters who want to incite violence, the online, the characters who want to use their social media platforms for ill are going to walk right up to that line and not step over it. And so they sort of intentionally try to leave it murky.

They intentionally try to say, well, there is no definite line. We will know it when we see it. We will know incitement to violence when we see it.

I think those of us who have closely watched social media platforms, especially Meta, have seen time and time again that they often miss that moment where it crosses over into language that actually incites violence.

They're pledging to do better going forward. They're saying, we have learned our lesson. We hope that, going forward, we will figure out where that line is and ban people ahead of time.

But I think, at the moment, we're all just sort of watching and waiting to see what a number of world leaders, not just Trump, are going to do online.

Amna Nawaz:

All right, Sheera Frenkel covers technology at The New York Times.

Thank you for joining us.

Sheera Frenkel:

Thank you for having me.