Former President Donald Trump formally announced his return to Facebook on Friday, posting on the tech platform for the first time since his personal account was suspended more than two years ago.
Trump’s post included a short video of his remarks after winning the 2016 presidential election. The clip then fades to a “Trump Make America Great Again 2024” screen.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. Complicated business,” the former commander-in-chief said in the 12-second clip.
The streaming service suspended Trump’s channel for similar reasons as Meta, saying it had broken its rules by broadcasting content that encouraged violence following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach
Facebook initially banned Trump indefinitely after the Jan. 6, 2021, upheaval, but the tech platform later changed it to a two-year suspension.
‘Grave Mistake’
Twitter, which also banned Trump following the Capitol breach, reinstated the former president’s account in November last year after more than 15 million Twitter users voted in an online poll.However, Trump has yet to post on the platform. On Feb. 20, he acknowledged that many of his followers have been waiting for him to return to both Twitter and Facebook after two years of being banned from the sites, but he said that he prefers to use his own Truth Social platform instead.
“They want me back so badly on Twitter,” the 45th president said. “They want me back on Google. They want us back badly on Facebook.”
Trump has nearly five million followers on the newly-found platform, which was created in October 2021 by U.S. media and tech company, Trump Media & Technology Group.
Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, said last year that the ban targeting Trump’s account was a “mistake” and “morally wrong.” The ban, Musk said, actually “alienated a large part of the country and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice.”