Former President Donald Trump, who has announced his campaign for re-election, is aiming to start using his social media accounts again.
Trump was banned from both Twitter and Facebook following the events that occurred at the nation’s Capitol on January 6.
Elon Musk, who finalized his purchase of Twitter in October, restored Trump’s previously banned account in November. However, Trump has not tweeted since his account was reinstated.
“Trump is probably coming back to Twitter. It’s just a question of how and when,” an unidentified Republican reportedly 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.”
NBC News also reported that an unidentified “Trump confidant” said that for weeks, the former president has been seeking input about using his Twitter account again and that campaign advisors have been developing ideas for his first Tweet back.
Trump himself confirmed his efforts to get back on social media in an interview with Fox News.
“It has been considered a major business mistake for them, Twitter, and others,” he said. “If they took us back, it would help them greatly, and that’s okay with me.
“But they need us more than we need them,” he continued. “We are talking to them, and we’ll see how it all works out.”
Among those “others” is Facebook. Trump’s campaign asked Meta to unblock his account on Tuesday.
“We believe that the ban on President Trump’s account on Facebook has dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse,” the campaign wrote in a letter to Meta.
Trump’s campaign argued for the importance of free speech and asked Meta for a “meeting to discuss President Trump’s prompt reinstatement to the platform.”
An anonymous Trump advisor allegedly told NBC News that he has spoken with Trump about Facebook and relayed that the campaign believes Facebook will honor the stated duration of the former president’s ban and reinstate him after two years.
“We are suspending his accounts for two years, effective from the date of the initial suspension on January 7 this year,” Facebook announced in June 2021. “At the end of this period, we will look to experts to assess whether the risk to public safety has receded.”
The anonymous advisor reportedly said the campaign is prepared to work with House Republicans to pressure Meta into restoring Trump’s account.
“If Facebook wants to have this fight, fine, but the House is leverage, and keeping Trump off Facebook just looks political,” he said, adding that House Democrats like Adam Schiff (D-CA) urged Meta to keep Trump off Facebook.
In a letter signed by Democrat congressman Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), André Carson (D-IN), and Kathy Castor (D-FL), Schiff wrote, “Trump has continued to post harmful election content on Truth Social that would likely violate Facebook’s policies, and we have every reason to believe he would bring similar conspiratorial rhetoric back to Facebook if given the chance.”
The former president alleged that Facebook has “lost $700 billion since I was de-platformed,” adding that his own social media platform, Truth Social, is “through the roof.”
NBC News reported that some unidentified advisors said Trump may post only a limited amount on other platforms in favor of continuing to use Truth Social as his primary platform. Truth Social did not comment on the issue, and a spokesperson for Trump reportedly said the campaign believes he will be able to use Twitter regularly.
The former president has about 4.8 million followers on Truth Social, but he has a much larger reach on Facebook and Twitter. Trump’s Facebook page boasts 34 million followers, while he has more than 87 million followers on Twitter.