FP StaffJan 02, 2023 15:46:59 IST
After his Twitter account was reinstated, former US President Donald Trump and his team wondered if he would be allowed back on Meta’s platforms, Instagram and Facebook, as per a report by the Financial Times.
The social media giant had previously said it will decide by Jan 7 whether to allow the former president to return. However, that announcement of the decision has now been postponed and is expected to be made later this month, the Financial Times said, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Meta has set up a working group to focus on the matter, according to people with knowledge of its operations, the report said, adding that the group includes staffers from the public policy and communications teams, as well as from the content policy team. The main task of the group is to decide whether Trump’s social media accounts with Meta’s properties would be safe.
The development comes after Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner, revoked a permanent ban on Trump in November last year on the social media platform after polling users.
Trump maintained that he had no interest in returning to Twitter, and would rather stay on his own social media platform, Truth Social.
“I don’t see any reason for it,” the former president had said via video when asked whether he planned to return to Twitter by a panel at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting last year.
Trump has mounted relentless attacks on the integrity of US voting since his 2020 election defeat and launched a bid in November to regain the presidency in 2024, aiming to pre-empt potential Republican rivals.
Elon Musk’s unveiling of internal Twitter documents, through Twitter Files, is only bolstering Trump’s statements and position among his followers.
