Trump team petitions Meta to end ban and starts drafting return tweet: Report
Cami Mondeaux Christopher Hutton
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Former President Donald Trump’s campaign wrote a letter to Facebook’s parent company Meta, petitioning company officials to reinstate his account on the social media platform two years after it was suspended.
“We believe that the ban on President Trump’s account on Facebook has dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse,” Trump’s campaign wrote, according to the letter obtained by NBC News.
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The letter didn’t threaten a lawsuit against the tech company despite previous reports that Trump might be considering one. Rather, the letter emphasized the importance of free speech and requested a “meeting to discuss President Trump’s prompt reinstatement to the platform.”
Trump previously filed a lawsuit against a slew of social media companies in October 2021, alleging censorship by Facebook, Twitter, and Google’s YouTube, along with respective CEOs Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and Sundar Pichai. A California judge later dismissed the suit in May 2022.
The request for reinstatement comes two years after Trump was removed from the site in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot, when supporters of the former president stormed the Capitol seeking to interfere with the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.
Facebook later decided to extend that ban, noting his suspension would be up for review every two years beginning Jan. 7 of this year. Meta President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg said at a September event that the platform would reconsider allowing Trump back on after consulting with experts and weighing risks of harm.
If Trump returns to the platform, he will be exempt from Meta’s fact-checking efforts because he is a political candidate, according to internal documents.
Trump was also indefinitely suspended from Twitter at the time, but he was reinstated to the platform in November after Elon Musk took over as CEO. Despite his reinstatement, Trump has not returned to the social media site.
While Trump could quickly be restored to the platforms, it remains unclear if his business with Truth Social would limit him. The Trump Media and Technology Group, which runs Truth Social, said in a May SEC filing that Trump would prefer his network over Twitter. The company was unwilling to comment on whether this agreement would still restrict Trump from posting on other networks in the future.
“Trump is probably coming back to Twitter. It’s just a question of how and when,” a source familiar with Trump’s thinking told NBC News. “He’s been talking about it for weeks, but Trump speaks for Trump, so it’s anyone’s guess what he’ll do or say or when.”
Other Trump allies told the outlet the former president has already planned his return, even going so far as to workshop ideas for a first tweet with his advisers.
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Several high-profile Democrats have urged Facebook to extend its ban against Trump, warning of continued “harmful” misinformation.
“For Meta to credibly maintain a legitimate election integrity policy, it is essential that your company maintain its platform ban on former president Trump,” Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Kathy Castor (D-FL), and Andres Carson (D-IN) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-NY) wrote in a letter to Meta in December.