Meta announced Friday that it would remove certain restrictions that had been placed on the Facebook and Instagram accounts of former President Donald Trump.

The restrictions were placed on his social media accounts in the wake of the rioting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 by some Trump supporters who sought to overturn the official results of the presidential election.

'These penalties were a response to extreme and extraordinary circumstances.'

Meta had previously allowed Trump access to his accounts in Feb. 2023 but added restrictions that meant he faced “heightened penalties for repeat offenses." The accounts could have been “suspended for between one month and two years” if he violated their terms of service.

Those restrictions have now been removed.

"In assessing our responsibility to allow political expression, we believe that the American people should be able to hear from the nominees for president on the same basis," said Nick Clegg, the company's president of global affairs.

"In reaching this conclusion, we also considered that these penalties were a response to extreme and extraordinary circumstances, and have not had to be deployed," he added.

Trump had excoriated the social media platforms that suspended him but was able to garner attention when he joined Truth Social, a platform created by a former campaign aide. He has since posted his messages to that platform and ignored X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

In Dec. 2022, a group of Democrats sent a letter to Meta begging them to keep the ban on Trump based on their anger over his insistence that the results of the 2020 election were fraudulent.

"Social media is rooted in the belief that open debate and the free flow of ideas are important values, especially at a time when they are under threat in many places around the world," read a statement from Meta in 2023.

"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," the company added.

Democrats have tried to pin responsibility of the Jan. 6 rioting on Trump, but he has been able to escape culpability thus far. One poll found in Dec. 2021 that 60% of adults said that Trump bore some or most of the responsibility for the Capitol rioting, but only 50% said the same a year later in Jan. 2024.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!