Former President Donald Trump has returned to Facebook after a more than two-year ban.
“I’M BACK!” Trump posted on the site weeks after his personal account was reactivated. Trump, who is running his third campaign for the White House, also shared an old video clip in which he said: “Sorry to keep you waiting. Complicated business.”
He posted the same clip on YouTube, which announced Friday that it, too, was welcoming him back.
Facebook parent Meta had said in January that it would be restoring Trump ’s personal account in the coming weeks, ending the suspension it imposed in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection, when Trump's supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol in a bid to halt the peaceful transition of power.
His access was restored to Facebook and Instagram on Feb. 9, the company confirmed.
“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,” Nick Clegg, Meta’s vice president of global affairs, wrote at the time.
The company also said it would be adding “new guardrails” to ensure there are no “repeat offenders” who violate its rules, even if they are political candidates or world leaders.
Facebook, the world’s largest social media site, had been both a publicly tool and a crucial source of fundraising revenue for both of Trump's previous campaigns.
YouTube, in a tweet, announced earlier Friday that, “Starting today, the Donald J. Trump channel is no longer restricted and can upload new content.”
“We carefully evaluated the continued risk of real-world violence, while balancing the chance for voters to hear equally from major national candidates in the run up to an election,” they wrote.
Twitter also reinstated Trump's account last year after Elon Musk took over the company, but the former president has thus far chosen not to tweet.
Instead, he has been posting frequently on his own Truth Social site, which he launched after the suspensions.
A Trump campaign spokesman and Meta representative both declined to comment.
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12 Comments
lincolnman
“I’M BACK!” Trump posted on the site weeks after his personal account was reactivated.
And next week he can post; 'I'M INDICTED"....
ROFL...
dagon
Trump seems to be slipping.
i would expect more lib-owning and culture warring.
He is so predictable now, almost a caricature with nothing substantial to add to the conversation that his content creation for these platforms could be out-sourced to a GPT-4 powered Character AI.
Wait, they already have one...
https://beta.character.ai/chat?char=QqiGaWtAZFe5xXh_l20EehwxFJC1nY6AvmMj-9L4A4M
wallace
Trump said he would not return.
bass4funk
Go for it.
ROFL...
lincolnman
They (multiple) are...
ROFL...
bass4funk
Good, pay the fees and move back on to campaigning.
Blacklabel
Great to see some semblance of fairness coming back to social media.
they are just hedging their bets in case trump wins next year. Not really any change in their morality or bias or anything.
starpunk
He ended his own social media site last year because not many people were on it and he got a lot of hate messages. America is coming to its senses (finally) and is sick and tired of his violence-mongering hateful sassy mouth.
And now the ICC has an arrest warrant for his Master Yoda Putin, how about indicting this uncouth traitor as well?
lincolnman
More like hear the sentences and shuffle off to Rikers Island...
"Weisellberg, save me a bunk"....
ROFL....
bass4funk
How would you know that? Lol
So do most Dems, so what’s your point?
No, it’s not, every looked at the growing crime rate, inflation, race relations, defunded police and police retiring at record numbers, food hike prices, wokeness and gender politics, that we have to argue as to what is a woman? And let’s not forget Biden ticked off the Saudis and pushed them closer towards Xi and then there’s Putin, Ukraine, North Korea and who could ever forget that catastrophic Afghanistan disaster?
Yeah, America is coming to its senses when they look at this current Presidency.
Biden?
Let them try it, so far when the Dems tried to usurp the constitution it just never ended well for them. Ask Harry Reid.
wallace
Trump abandons Truth Social. Not enough users. it is on the point of collapse.
bass4funk
Dorsey abandoned Twitter.
Good, all the libs can use TikTok or other sites
Lol, sure.