Meta is lifting former President Donald Trump’s two-year ban on Facebook and Instagram following controversial posts after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden and in response to his posts that lead up to the January 6 insurrection.
Trump has since moved his regularly scheduled rants and nonsense to his own social media platform, Truth Social, but his campaign team has argued that he should be allowed back on Facebook as he makes another run for the White House.
If it makes you feel any better, the ban will be lifted with certain guardrails in place including removing content that goes against Meta’s policies and a renewed suspension depending on the severity of the violation.
CEO of Twitter, Elon Musk has already reinstated Trump’s account on his platform, but the former President has yet to generate any new Tweets from his personal account. Ahead of what will likely be plenty of new Trump content coming from both platforms, here are 10 examples of his bad social behaviour.
The one where Trump falsely claimed covid-19 is not dangerous while thousands of people were dying
Trump was admitted to the hospital with covid-19 in October 2020 and was given the Regeneron treatment which was largely unavailable to the general public at large. At the time, there were approximately 223,000 covid-related deaths in the U.S. and as of January 2023, there have been 102 million deaths in the U.S. alone, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
The one where Trump spouted unfounded conspiracy theories
Trump accused Biden of receiving backing from China in his bid to become president, even as national security officials said Russia was the bigger concern in working to sway the election in favour of Trump.
The one where Trump accused Democrats of somehow tampering with ballots
The one where Trump was a sore loser
The one where Trump uses a false conspiracy theory to back up his own conspiracy theory
The one where Trump said Afghanistan elections are more secure than America
Afghanistan elections in 2019 resulted in a violence, Taliban threats, increased reports of fraud, and fear.
The one where Trump was in continued denial
The one where Trump encouraged his followers to “Stop the Steal” in DC
The one where Trump built momentum in the lead-up to the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol
Numerous audits and recounts in several states showed Biden fairly won the election with 306 electoral votes.
The one where Trump waited hours to tell his followers to protest peacefully as they smashed in windows and overtook the Capitol
Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an effort to stop the certification of the presidential election results. The riot that day led to five deaths, and hundreds of arrests, many of whom have been sentenced to jail time.
The insurrection lasted from about 1 p.m. until 6 p.m., but Trump did not address the nation until 4:17 p.m., nearly three hours after rioters stormed the Capitol building.