On January ,6 2021, a mob of President Donald Trump supporters stormed the United States capital after he repeatedly called the presidential election a sham and incited his followers to “stop the steal” and “fight” for him. As a result, four people died and the United States almost stopped being a democracy. After that he was banned from Facebook and Twitter. He’s not anymore.
So how long was Trump banned? Let’s start with Twitter. On January 8, 2021, the company released a statement saying it had permanently banned his account. Here’s what they said:
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
Elon Musk bought Twitter on Oct. 27 for $44 billion. Soon after he became CEO, he started reinstating banned accounts. On Nov. 18, Musk tweeted out a survey called “Reinstate former President Trump” and a yes or no button.
About 15 million people voted, and 51.8 percent of them said yes, according to the poll.
Shortly after, Trump’s account was reinstated. Trump was banned from Twitter for a little under a year. After hearing the news, Trump said “I don’t see any reason for it” after being asked if he would come back. That was back in November and things are now changing. More on that in a second.
Let’s move on to Facebook. On January 7, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg relayed a message that was similar to Twitter’s initial one:
“The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden.”
The message went on to say “the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great. Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks….”
The ban was then reevaluated by Meta’s semi-independent Oversight Board, which extended it a few times until January 2023. Trump was banned from Facebook for a total of two years.
Now that he’s back, will Trump use the platforms again? Or will he stay on his startup Truth Social, where he has more than four million followers. Signs are pointing toward a return. Rolling Stone just reported that Trump wants to ditch the site, especially as election season heats up.
Trump reportedly has a “social media exclusivity term” that mandates he use Truth Social as the “first channel any and all social media communications” and then wait six hours before posting it somewhere else. Trump, who isn’t really known for following rules, will probably not abide by this.
According to Rolling Stone, Trump is not going to re-up that agreement when it expires, which is in June. “He said there’s an expiration date and that he didn’t want to make commitments,” a source told the publication.
All of this points to a grand return for Trump to mainstream social media this Summer.