Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, said that Facebook had removed content she posted with the “the voice of Donald Trump.”
“In line with the block we placed on Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram account, further content posted in the voice of Donald Trump will be removed and result in additional limitations on the accounts,” it reads.
A person close to the Trump Organization told The Epoch Times that Facebook took down Lara Trump’s 18-minute long video interview with the former president within 20 minutes of her posting it. The Epoch Times also contacted Facebook for comment.
A second email from a Facebook staffer gave a “reminder” that content “in the voice” of Trump is not allowed on the social media platform, according to Lara Trump’s Instagram post. “The guidance applies to all campaign accounts and Pages, including Team Trump, other campaign messaging vehicles on our platforms, and former surrogates,” it read.
Lara Trump, in her social media captions, said the email suggests “we are one step closer to Orwell’s ‘1984.’”
In January, then-President Trump was suspended from his Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube accounts, with the platforms saying that it was due to his comments following the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. Later, a Twitter executive said that Trump’s ban is most likely permanent, although YouTube and Facebook have been less clear.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg claimed Trump used social media platforms to “incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.” Civil liberties groups such as the ACLU and world leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the social media bans are worrying and implied these platforms are wielding their power unwisely.
Trump, since being off social media, has said Twitter has become “boring” after he was suspended and asserted that “millions” of users are leaving. He again repeated the statement during his interview with Lara Trump, who is married to his son Eric Trump, while saying that he prefers to send out press releases and statements via email—which he described as “more elegant” than tweeting.
If Trump decides to run for president in 2024, he would likely have to come up with a different social media platform or messaging strategy to stay relevant.
A former pollster, Jim McLaughlin, said that whatever he does, Trump is “going to remain popular because his agenda and his policies were successful.”
