Trump Returns To Social Media, Meta Will Restore The Former President's Account
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Meta Platforms Inc., the mother of Facebook, has said it will bring back former President Donald Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts.
Trump Has Been Banned
Meta suspended Trump's Facebook account indefinitely in January 2021 after determining that he praised the violence committed by his supporters on the United States Capitol in response to false claims of election rigging. His Instagram account has also been suspended.
The ban was initially supposed to last 24 hours when the company on Wednesday said it had removed Trump's video that repeated baseless claims that the election was rigged and expressed support for the protesters. Trump, like Republican lawmakers, criticized the efforts of social media companies in the run-up to and after the November 3, 2020 presidential election, claiming that their content censorship efforts were aimed at suppressing conservative views.
The group opposed the ban in principle indefinitely. Facebook in June 2021 said the suspension would last at least two years and that it would reverse its decision in January 2023, two years after the original suspension.
Also at that time, a YouTube spokesperson announced that any channel posting new videos that spread misinformation about widespread election fraud would be sanctioned, temporarily restricting content uploads or live streaming.
Trump opposed the suspension at the time.
Facebook has been more important to Trump
Trump was a regular user of social media platforms before running for office and while in the White House. Facebook has historically been more important to Trump as a fundraising tool. While Trump was suspended from the platform, his campaign continued to run ads on Facebook.
Truth Social
After being effectively banned from major social media platforms, Trump launched Truth Social, where he has nearly five million followers. Truth Social launched in the United States, but some potential users reported that they couldn't create an account or were getting error messages when trying. Others have been asked to put themselves on a waiting list.
Trump on his social media platform Truth Social said: "Something like this should never happen again to a sitting president or anyone else who doesn't deserve revenge!"
Banned on Twitter
While in the White House, Trump relied heavily on social media to communicate with his supporters, often bypassing his advisers and traditional media by posting directly to Twitter.
Twitter Inc. blocked Trump's personal account in January 2021, citing the risk of further incitement to violence following the attack by a mob of his supporters on the United States Capitol just days earlier.
Elon Musk reinstated Trump's account last year. Before Musk took over Twitter, he said in May that he plans to do so after taking over the platform.
Musk closed the $44 billion deal in October and lifted the suspension in November, days after Trump said he was running for the White House again.
Trump has not resumed posting on Twitter since his account was restored on the platform.
Meta share prices
After a significant decline last year, Meta's shares are in an uptrend this year. Currently, Meta prices have reached the level of 141.50 compared to the beginning of the year when their level was 124.74.
Source: wsj.com, finance.yahoo.com
