Trump on Returning to Facebook, Twitter: ‘I Don’t Like to Be Foolish’

Former President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas, on Aug. 6, 2022. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump has said he has no plans to return to Twitter and Facebook, despite the two social media platforms allowing him to do so after dropping previous bans.

Speaking to Just the News on Feb. 20, Trump acknowledged that many of his followers have been waiting for him to return to both Twitter and Facebook after two years of him being banned from the sites but said that he prefers to use his own Truth Social platform instead.

“I’ve been invited back,” Trump said. “It’s waiting, I guess. Twitter has close to 90 million people waiting. But I think I get a very strong word out on Truth, and there’s something very beautiful about it.”

“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.”

Multiple reports have claimed that Trump was preparing to return to Facebook and Twitter but on Monday, he dubbed the platforms “boring” and said they are riddled with “fake accounts.”

He also took aim at what he said was Big Tech’s censorship of him.

‘They Treated Us Very Badly’

“They treated us very badly,” he said. “You can’t help but remember that. If you don’t remember that, you’re very foolish. And I don’t like to be foolish. So we'll see what happens.”

While Trump has not yet returned to Twitter via his personal account, the account @TeamTrump, which is the official account of the Trump campaign, is actively posting on Twitter.

Trump made the comments shortly after Meta announced it had restored his access to Facebook and Instagram on Feb. 9.

Andy Stone, a spokesperson for the Mark Zuckerberg-led firm, told Reuters that Trump could now access his account.

In a blog post earlier in January, Meta had said it would be ending Trump’s Facebook and Instagram suspension “in the coming weeks” but had put “new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses.”

The company noted that it had taken action to indefinitely suspend Trump’s account when he was President in “extreme and highly unusual circumstances” following the Jan. 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol.

Trump’s last post on Facebook before the suspension was on Jan. 6 and he had called on people to leave the U.S. Capitol.

“Like any other Facebook or Instagram user, Mr. Trump is subject to our Community Standards,” Meta noted. “In light of his violations, he now also faces heightened penalties for repeat offenses—penalties which will apply to other public figures whose accounts are reinstated from suspensions related to civil unrest under our updated protocol.”

Meta Restores Trump’s Facebook Account

According to Meta, if Trump once again violates the company’s content policies, the content will be removed and he will be suspended for between one month and two years, depending on the “severity” of the violation.

Shortly after Meta’s announcement last month, Trump took to his own social media platform to criticize the company.

“FACEBOOK, which has lost billions of dollars in value since ‘deplatforming’ your favorite President, me, has just announced that they are reinstating my account,” he said. “THANK YOU TO TRUTH SOCIAL FOR DOING SUCH AN INCREDIBLE JOB.”

Meta reported disappointing revenues last year—$32.17 billion for the fourth quarter and $116.61 billion for the full year, down from $117.93 billion in 2021.

Earlier in November, Twitter, which is now led by businessman Elon Musk, reinstated Trump’s account after the billionaire ran a poll asking for his follower’s opinions on the matter. Results showed that 51.8 percent of users voted to reinstate Trump’s account, while 48.2 percent voted against it.

The decision garnered mixed reactions from opponents of Trump and free-speech advocates.

Trump has 23.4 million followers on Instagram, 34 million on Facebook, and 87.6 million followers on Twitter, the latter of which he was previously an avid user.

Despite announcing that he will be running for reelection in 2024, it appears as though he has no plans to return to any of the sites in the immediate future.