Trump's campaign formally requests that Facebook restore his account
![Donald Trump sitting with his arms crossed against his chest.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/3p7S6qqGRULNVJQgzxy3Xk-415-80.jpg)
Former President Donald Trump has "formally" petitioned Meta to restore access to his Facebook account after it was revoked in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, NBC News reports Wednesday.
"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 a Tuesday letter to Meta, according to a copy obtained by NBC News.
Advisers also asked for "a meeting to discuss President Trump's prompt reinstatement to the platform," per NBC News.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A Meta spokesperson told NBC News that the company "will announce a decision in the coming weeks in line with the process we laid out." Facebook's post-riot ban on Trump's account was initially intended to last only two years, at which point the company and "experts" would "assess whether the risk to public safety has receded," Nick Clegg, Meta's president of global affairs, said at the time.
Meanwhile, team Trump is apparently planning for the former president's potential return to Twitter, as well, on which he was recently unblocked after Elon Musk reversed his permanent post-riot suspension.
"Trump is probably coming back to Twitter. It's just a question of how and when," one Republican source with knowledge of the matter 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."
Advisers have been workshopping ideas for Trump's first tweet back, another source added. But any return plans are at least slightly complicated by the existence of Truth Social, the president's rival social media company, seeing as he might be required to afford the platform some degree of exclusivity.
A continued Facebook ban would constitute a "deliberate effort by a private company to silence Mr. Trump's political voice," the president's campaign continued in its Tuesday letter. "Moreover, every day that President Trump's political voice remains silenced furthers an inappropriate interference in the American political and election process."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
Salt Lake City named host of 2034 Winter Olympics
Speed Read The Winter Games are returning to the US for the first time in 32 years
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Netanyahu makes controversial address
Speed Reads Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress denounced Gaza war protestors
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Twisters review: 'warm-blooded' film explores dangerous weather
The Week Recommends The film, focusing on 'tornado wranglers', stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell
By The Week UK Published
-
Netanyahu makes controversial address
Speed Reads Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress denounced Gaza war protestors
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Why is China stockpiling resources?
The Explainer The superpower has been amassing huge reserves of commodities at great cost despite its economic downturn
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
The GOP is Donald Trump Jr.'s party now
In The Spotlight The former president's gun-loving, live-streaming adult son has emerged as more than just his father's namesake — he's become a Republican powerhouse of his own
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
For God and country: is religion in politics making a comeback?
Talking Point There are many MPs of faith in the new Labour government despite it being the most openly secular House of Commons in history
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
The attack on Donald Trump
Opinion We've seen this kind of shooter before
By Susan Caskie Published
-
74 things Donald Trump has said about women
Feature The former president has a long history of controversial remarks about the opposite sex
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
DHS opens review of Trump assassination attempt
Speed Read An independent panel will investigate the Secret Service's handling of the shooting
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Can Kamala Harris beat Trump?
Today's Big Question Some senior Democrats are unsure the vice-president can win in November even as party closes ranks behind her
By The Week UK Published