Former President Donald Trump’s official Facebook account is back online, along with his Instagram. The accounts had been suspended from both platforms for over two years, following Trump’s role in instigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Meta, Facebook’s and Instagram’s parent company, announced that it would rescind the block on Trump in January — and now the tech giant has followed through on that promise. In the statement announcing Trump’s return, Meta’s President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg wrote that the company no longer believes the former president’s Facebook account poses the same “serious risk to public safety,” as it did when the platform banned him.
Trump announced his third presidential campaign in November 2022. Prior to that announcement, he had been dropping hints of a run for weeks. The former president and future presidential hopeful amassed massive followings on social media throughout his political career — specifically on Twitter and Facebook.
But following the January 6 riots, he was uniformly removed from almost every major social platform. Now, renewed access to his once mighty Facebook account will likely be a boon to his 2024 campaign — that is, if he is willing and able to take advantage of it.
In November 2022, Twitter CEO Elon Musk revoked Trump’s ban. Since then, the account has been live on the site. However, Trump has yet to tweet anything. Previously, the former president said that he wouldn’t go back to tweeting, and would instead stay loyal to his own platform, Truth Social .
A semi-exclusive contract with Truth makes it a little difficult for Trump to abandon the floundering site for greener pastures. Though he reportedly is itching to escape those restrictive terms, and may do so in June.
As of writing, Trump has more than 34 million followers on Facebook and 23.4 million on Instagram. On Twitter, his account clocks in at more than 87.6 million followers.
The last posts on the former president’s Facebook account are from January 6, 2021. “I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order – respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!,” reads the most recent. The last post on his Instagram, from January 5, 2021, urges his followers to join him at the January 6 “Save America March.”