Following Kyle Rittenhouse acquittal last month, Facebook and Instagram lifted their ban on praising or supporting him and stopped blocking search results for his name.
In the days following the shooting last year, Facebook, now owned by Meta, removed Rittenhouse’s accounts. The social network also stated at the time that it would remove “praise and support for the shooter” as well as block searches for Rittenhouse’s name. These actions have now been reversed.
“After the verdict in Kenosha we rolled back the restrictions we had in place that limited search results from returning content related to key terms including Kyle Rittenhouse,” Meta spokesman said, adding that the social network will still “remove content that celebrates the death of the individuals killed in Kenosha.”
Rittenhouse will also be able to rejoin Facebook, either by creating a new account or by requesting that the social network restore his deleted account, according to the spokesperson.