Trump's Comeback Trail Now Includes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

Donald Trump has confirmed he is actively making efforts to be allowed back on Facebook ahead of him kickstarting his next presidential campaign.

In an interview with Fox News, Trump hit out at Meta, the company which owns Facebook as well as Instagram, for its decision to ban him from its platforms in the wake of the January 6, 2021 attack.

The former president said that he is trying to organize a meeting with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in order to convince the company to allow him back on the social media sites as he attempts to re-enter the White House.

Trump also pushed the discouraged claim that Facebook has "lost $700 billion since I was de-platformed," and that the decision was a "major business mistake."

"If they took us back, it would help them greatly, and that's okay with me," Trump said. "But they need us more than we need them. We are talking to them, and we'll see how it all works out."

Trump was also banned from Twitter in the wake of the January 6 riot over fears he would use the platform to incite further violence.

Trump had his Twitter account restored in November 2022 following the $44 billion takeover of the platform by Elon Musk, but the former president has yet to use it again, instead choosing to regularly post on his Truth Social account.

The Fox News interview arrived after NBC News first reported that Trump's campaign team had written a letter to Zuckerberg, as well as president and vice president of global affairs at Meta, Nick Clegg and Joel Kaplan, to formally ask that the former president be allowed back on Facebook now he is running for office again.

"We believe that the ban on President Trump's account on Facebook has dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse," wrote Trump campaign general counsel Scott Gast.

"We also believe that a continued ban would basically constitute, in the words of Mr. Clegg, a deliberate effort by a private company to silence Mr. Trump's political voice.

"At a time when the United States faces critical issues that impact its citizens and the world, and at a time when the country begins the process of choosing its next president, we believe that Meta should be encouraging a full and robust dialogue, not silencing presidential candidates," Gast said. "We therefore write to request a meeting to discuss President Trump's prompt reinstatement to the platform."

Trump was originally banned from Facebook for two weeks from January 7, 2021, before it was later extended to two years. The social media company previously said it would then review whether there was a "serious risk to public safety" before allowing him back on the platform.

"When the suspension is eventually lifted, there will be a strict set of rapidly escalating sanctions that will be triggered if Mr. Trump commits further violations in future, up to and including permanent removal of his pages and accounts," Clegg said in a June 2021 statement.

In a previous statement released the day before Trump's two-year suspension was due to end, a Meta spokesperson told Newsweek that the company "will announce a decision in the coming weeks in line with the process we laid out."