Donald Trump Plotting Twitter, Facebook Returns

Former president Donald Trump hopes to expand his social media presence beyond Truth Social, with returns to Twitter and Facebook.

The two tech platforms banned Trump from his respective accounts in 2021 following the events of Jan. 6.

In November, Elon Musk reinstated the former president on Twitter. Meanwhile, Facebook continues to enforce a ban that it reviewed earlier this month. Meta plans to make an announcement on a potential reinstatement in the coming weeks, says the company.

Ahead of the decision, Trump's campaign is formally petitioning Meta to unlock his Facebook account.

“We believe that the ban on President Trump’s account on Facebook has dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse,” Trump’s campaign wrote in its letter to Meta on Tuesday, reports NBC News.

Trump has thus far kept his social media activity limited to Truth Social, but likely considers the much larger Twitter and Facebook crucial to his 2024 presidential bid.

He has just under 5 million followers on Truth Social. Before his bans, he amassed follower counts of 88 million and 34 million on Twitter and Facebook, respectively.

Still, there's gray area in how his involvement with Truth Social could impact returns to Twitter and Facebook.

Advisers told NBC that Trump's agreement with Truth ocial could restrict how frequently he can post on competing services.

Mediaite reported similar details in November:

"The agreement governing the proposed merger does set some parameters for how Trump would be allowed to use a rival social media platform, and yet another issue that could be part of a lawsuit by aggrieved shareholders if the planned merger goes through but the stock tanks.
"Trump 'is generally obligated to make any social media post on TruthSocial and may not make the same post on another social media site for 6 hours. Thereafter, he is free to post on any site to which he has access.' He also "may make a post from a personal account related to political messaging, political fundraising or get-out-the-vote efforts on any social media site at any time.”
In other words, if Trump tweets anything that he hasn’t already posted on Truth Social at least six hours in advance, it’s going to come down to the exact interpretation of what is considered “political messaging.”

For what it's worth, a spokesman for Trump told NBC the campaign believes he’ll be able to return to Twitter as before.

His campaign advisers are currently workshopping ideas for his first tweet in two years.

We suspect Trump would find Twitter more robust than previously. We don't share the same confidence in Facebook, however.