The former US president lodged a petition with Facebook’s parent company this week
Donald Trump looks at his phone during a meeting with governors at the White House in Washington, DC, June 18, 2020 © AP / Alex Brandon
Former President Donald Trump is already planning his first tweet since his Twitter account was reinstated by Elon Musk, while his campaign filed a petition with Meta this week aimed at unblocking his Facebook and Instagram accounts, NBC News reported on Wednesday.
“We believe that the ban on President Trump’s account on Facebook has dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse,” Trump’s campaign wrote to Meta on Tuesday, in a letter seen by NBC.
The letter asked Meta – the parent company of Facebook and Instagram – for “a meeting to discuss President Trump’s prompt reinstatement to the platform.”
Trump utilized his Twitter and Facebook accounts to bypass the legacy media and ride a wave of populist support to the White House in 2016. He used Twitter to feud with his political rivals and announce major policy decisions while in office, and to publicly accuse the Democratic Party of “rigging” the 2020 election for President Joe Biden.
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Trump was suspended from both platforms and others after his supporters rioted on Capitol Hill in January 2021. Although he had his Twitter account reinstated in November by new owner and CEO Elon Musk, Meta has not yet made a ruling on giving him back control of his Facebook and Instagram accounts.
Meta imposed a two-year ban on Trump’s accounts in 2021, which has now elapsed. The social media giant told NBC that it “will announce a decision in the coming weeks in line with the process we laid out.”
Trump has yet to issue a single tweet since Musk unbanned his account, although his aides and allies believe it’s only a matter of time. “He’s been talking about it for weeks, but Trump speaks for Trump, so it’s anyone’s guess what he’ll do or say or when,” a Republican source told NBC. An anonymous confidant of the former president added that Trump’s campaign advisers have been working on ideas for his first tweet.
However, Musk suggested on Wednesday that the return of Trump could prompt the Biden administration to “weaponize federal agencies against Twitter.” Biden previously said Musk’s acquisition of the platform was “being looked at” by his government.
