META MISTAKE: Trump is attempting to get back on this social media platform after being kicked off
Two years after being banned from two of social media’s most influential platforms, Donald Trump reportedly wants to stage a comeback.
The former President has petitioned Facebook’s parent company, Meta, to reinstate his account.
“We believe that the ban on President Trump’s account on Facebook has dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse,” the ex-President’s campaign wrote.
After the January 6th insurrection, Facebook – along with Twitter – suspended Trump’s accounts.
Though Twitter, under its new CEO Elon Musk, restored President Trump’s presence on the platform in November 2022 – Facebook has yet to make a decision.
A temporary two-year suspension was handed down the day after a violent mob incited by the then-President turned violent when angry MAGA supporters stormed the Capitol building in an attempt to block the certification of President-Elect Joe Biden’s presidential win.
But that time ended less than two weeks ago, begging the question – will they, or won’t they allow Trump back?
Interestingly, Trump has yet to send his first tweet in the two months since his account was reinstated.
According to an adviser familiar with the situation, the former President has been seeking advice on how to make his official return to Twitter.
After the midterm election, Rep. Adam Schiff (R-CA) and three other Democratic congress members – Representatives Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), André Carson (D-IN), and Kathy Castor (D-FL) – sent a letter to Meta’s President of Global Affairs, Nicholas Clegg, urging the social media app to keep Donald Trump off of its platform.
“Following the 2022 midterm elections, we write to use Meta to maintain its commitment to keeping dangerous and unfounded election denial content off its platform. To that end, we also urge Meta and its leadership to continue the suspension of former President Donald Trump’s Facebook account beyond January,” the letter stated.
The congress members reminded Facebook of its vow to monitor whether the ex-President still poses a threat to the safety of the American people when making its decision.
“If we determine that there is still a serious risk to public safety, we will extend the restriction for a set period of time and continue to evaluate until that risk has receded,” Meta said in 2021.
It’s been over two years since losing the 2020 election, but that hasn’t stopped Trump from continuing to spread baseless claims of a stolen election – inspiring copycats among GOP wannabe politicians who failed in their own races.
Using his social media site Truth Social – which has only four million followers compared to the 88 million Trump had on Twitter, and the 34 million on Facebook – the former President has used the platform to spout hateful and bigoted rhetoric and incite violence against federal investigators, prosecutors, and innocent Americans like former election workers, “Lady” Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss.
“Two years later, we can see unequivocally that Trump is still spreading the Big Lie and thus undermining our democracy,” the letter states. “Trump has continued to post harmful election content on Truth Social that would likely violate Facebook’s policies, and we have every reason to believe he would bring similar conspiratorial rhetoric back to Facebook,” Rep. Schiff says in the letter.
With Republicans in the House majority, an adviser told NBC News that the chamber is poised to investigate Section 230, federal law regarding the regulation of social media companies.
“If Facebook wants to have this fight, fine, but the House is leverage, and keeping Trump off Facebook just looks political,” the adviser said in response to the letter crafted by Congressman Schiff and his colleagues.
Meanwhile, Special Counsel Jack Smith is closing in his investigation into the former President’s potential violations of the Presidential Records and Espionage Acts, and Fulton Country District Attorney Fani Willis has wrapped up her special grand jury probe into Trump and his allies plot to overturn Georgia’s election results.
With the Trump Organization’s recent sentence by a Manhattan court for criminal tax fraud, it’s become increasingly apparent that the ex-President is grasping at straws, relevance, and freedom.
Original reporting by Marc Caputo and Jonathan Allen at NBC News.
Follow Ty Ross on Twitter @cooltxchick
