Facebook owner Meta is preparing to announce whether it will let former US President Donald Trump back on Facebook and Instagram, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. The social media giant had previously said it would have until January 7 to decide whether the former president would be allowed to return. However, that decision is expected to be announced later in the month, the newspaper said, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Meta has set up a working group to look into the matter, the report said.
Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The development comes afterwards Elon Musk, twitters new owner, lifted a permanent ban on Trump on the social media platform last November after surveying users.
Trump claimed he has no interest in returning to Twitter.
“I don’t see any reason for it,” the former president had said via video when asked by a panel at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting if he planned to return to Twitter.
Trump has launched relentless attacks on the integrity of the US election since his 2020 election defeat, and in November launched a bid to regain the presidency in 2024 in a bid to forestall potential Republican rivals.
Last month, meta I Agree Paying US$725 million (around Rs.6,000 billion) to settle a class action lawsuit accusing the social media giant of allowing third parties, including Cambridge Analytica, to access users’ personal data.
The proposed settlement, revealed in a court filing in December, would settle a lengthy legal battle sparked by revelations in 2018 that Facebook had allowed British policy consultancy Cambridge Analytica to access data on up to 87 million users.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys called the proposed settlement the largest ever reached in a US privacy class-action lawsuit and the most Meta has ever paid to settle a class-action lawsuit.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
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