Donald Trump requests Meta to reactivate his Facebook account; Find details
Update: 2023-01-19 13:07 IST
After taking over Twitter in a highly publicized $44 billion deal, Elon Musk reinstated former US President Donald Trump's account in November 2022. Twitter's new owner's decision came after an online poll voted in favour of the measure. Donald Trump has a substantial following on social media and has more than 87 million followers on Twitter. However, the former US president only tweeted something after January 8, 2021, when his account was blocked.
After regaining access to his Twitter account, Donald Trump asks Facebook's parent company, Meta, to reactivate his account. The former US president plans to run in the 2024 elections and seeks to regain his social media position.
Why was Donald Trump's Facebook account banned?
Donald Trump's account got banned in January 2021 following the violent attack on the United States Capitol in Washington by Trump supporters. The incident led to several deaths and also disrupted the certification of the presidential election 2020, which Joe Biden won.
As per Twitter and Facebook, Trump had encouraged the attack and violated his policies against incitement to violence and misinformation. The former US president had also criticized the US electoral process, calling it "worse than third world countries".
Donald Trump requests Meta to reactivate his Facebook account
AFP reported that Trump's lawyer, in his letter to Meta, said the ban had "dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse." Additionally, the lawyer, Scott Gast, requested a meeting to discuss the former US president's "soon reinstatement to the platform", where he earlier had 34 million followers. Gast also argued that since Trump is considered the favourite for the Republican nomination in 2024, the ban should be lifted.
"We also believe that a continued ban would basically constitute... a deliberate effort by a private company to silence Mr Trump's political voice," he wrote.
What Meta say about reinstatement?
Meta, for its part, said that it would soon announce a decision in accordance with the process that has been established. The company had previously said that the ban on Trump's account would be reviewed on January 7; after two years, the ban was imposed in January 2021.
"We will announce a decision in the coming weeks in accordance with the process we presented." the company told AFP.