Hours after YouTube reinstated Donald Trump’s account, the former US President has also made his comeback on Facebook.
“I’M BACK!” he captioned a post featuring the same video that he published on YouTube the previous day.
This was Donald Trump’s first post on Facebook since January 6, 2021, when he called for “everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful” as hundreds of his supporters stormed the U.S. legislature building in Washington DC.
The riots of that day cost the lives of five people.
Trump’s ban from Facebook and other social media gradually lifted
In the aftermath of the Capitol Hill riot, Donald Trump was banned from the leading social media platforms (YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter) for breaching their policy against inciting violence.
The bans started to be gradually lifted in recent months, and while Trump had continued to use his own social media platform, Truth Social, which he set up in 2022 in response to his account suspensions.
Twitter was the first social media platform to reinstate the former US President’s account, after its new owner, Elon Musk, ran a poll on the matter in November 2022.
His Facebook and Instagram accounts were restored by owner company Meta in late January 2023.
“The suspension was an extraordinary decision taken in extraordinary circumstances. The normal state of affairs is that the public should be able to hear from a former President of the United States, and a declared candidate for that office again, on our platforms,” Meta commented at the time.
“In the event that Mr. Trump posts further violating content, the content will be removed and he will be suspended for between one month and two years, depending on the severity of the violation,” the company added.
The same would apply to other public figures whose accounts are reinstated from suspensions related to civil unrest under Meta’s updated protocol, it explained.
YouTube Reinstates Trump After Two Years
Earlier this week YouTube reinstated Donald Trump’s ban after a two-year suspension following the Capitol Hill riot.
“Starting today, the Donald J. Trump channel is no longer restricted and can upload new content,” YouTube said in a statement Friday.
“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.”
Trump’s channel on YouTube has 2.6 million followers. The most recent videos uploaded to it (on Jan. 12, 2021) are clips from the far-right OANN (One America News Network) coverage of a Trump press conference on the border wall in Texas.
On Jan. 12, 2021, YouTube said it determined that Trump’s channel violated the site’s policy against inciting violence and the video giant suspended his channel for an indeterminate period.
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