As the political atmosphere gathers momentum in the United States of America ahead of its Presidential election next year, stakeholders have started paving way for possible contenders to marshal their manifestos and seek the electorate’s support.
A former President of the United States, Donald Trump, while addressing a crowd of supporters in Texas, late last year, had hinted of his desire to contest the presidency in 2024.
Meanwhile, of these key stakeholders are owners of Information, Communication, Technology including the social media platforms. Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) belongs to this category.
Meta, an American multinational technology conglomerate, promised to will restore Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts soon.
Trump’s accounts, with about 57 million followers, had been suspended after a riot broke out in Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021.
The social media handles, after the suspension would have been lifted on them, would afford the former president of opportunities of interacting with his political supporters online in line with his aspiration to oust the incumbent President Joe Biden.
While his Facebook account has 34 million followers, his Instagram has 23 million.
Investors King had reported that Trump’s Twitter account had been suspended following alleged misinformation and incitement of violence.
But, after Elon Musk took over Twitter in November, 2022, he reinstated Trump’s account.
Ahead of the poll, advocates of free speech have said it would be good if political candidates are allowed to reach out to the public on social media.
Meanwhile, critics have accused Meta of relaxing its policies to accommodate posting of contents that are inappropriate to standard. But, the technology conglomerate said it has made some barriers that would prevent misinformation.
Explaining how it would tackle Trump posts henceforth, Meta’s President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, had said that any violating content of the politician would be removed and that Trump risks between one month and two years suspension depending on how serious the offence is.
Nonetheless, the decision to reinstate Trump’s accounts has been generating condemnation as civil rights groups accused Meta of parading weak policies that allow disparaging content on their platforms.
Some of these advocates described the former president as danger that should be tamed.
Some of the groups,l including Free Press, Anti-Defamation League and NAACP, among others said they are worried that Facebook may not be able to checkmate possible future attacks by Trump on democratic process.
But, Jameel Jaffer, executive director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and a former ACLU official, said the restoration of Trump’s accounts is justified.
Jaffer said the reinstatement would allow members of the public, the opportunity of hearing directly from candidates gunning for political offices in the forthcoming presidential election.
