NEW YORK - Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced that it will soon restore the twice-impeached ex-president’s access to their platforms, just over two years after Mr Trump used his social media profiles to incite a violent attack on the US Capitol.

Sir Nick Clegg, the former UK deputy prime minister who is now Meta’s president for global affairs, said in a blog post that the company had made the decision after assessing “whether the serious risk to public safety that existed in January 2021” — when Mr Trump urged a violent mob to storm the seat of the US legislature in last-ditch push to remain in office — had “sufficiently receded”.

“We have evaluated the current environment according to our Crisis Policy Protocol, which included looking at the conduct of the US 2022 midterm elections, and expert assessments on the current security environment,” he said.

“Our determination is that the risk has sufficiently receded, and that we should therefore adhere to the two-year timeline we set out. As such, we will be reinstating Mr. Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks”.

Sir Nick added that the company will add “new guardrails” to Mr Trump’s account “to deter repeat offenses”.