Meta has set up a working group to focus on the matter (Picture: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Facebook-owner Meta is preparing to announce whether it will allow former US President Donald Trump back on to Facebook and Instagram.

The decision is expected to be announced later this month, according to the Financial Times, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The social media giant had previously said that it would decide by 7 January whether to allow the former president back on its platforms.

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 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.

Facebook-owner Meta is preparing to announce whether it will allow former US President Donald Trump back on to Facebook and Instagram (Picture: Reuters)

Trump maintained that he had no interest in returning to Twitter.

‘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.

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.

In 2021, Trump was suspended from Facebook for at least two years after his ‘praise for people engaged in’ the deadly January 6 Capitol Riot.

‘Given the gravity of the circumstances that led to Mr Trump’s suspension, we believe his actions constituted a severe violation of our rules which merit the highest penalty available under the new enforcement protocols,’ wrote Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president of global affairs in a 2021 blog post.

‘We are suspending his accounts for two years, effective from the date of the initial suspension on January 7 this year.’

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A decision is expected by 7 January.