Trump requests meeting with Meta to discuss ‘prompt reinstatement’ to Facebook
Written by ABC AUDIO on January 18, 2023
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump is looking to get back on Facebook.
Attorneys for Trump, who was banned from Facebook after the Jan. 6 insurrection, have written to executives of Meta requesting a meeting to discuss “prompt reinstatement to the platform,” according to a copy of the letter reviewed by ABC News.
The letter, which is addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and two other executives, claims the ban on Trump’s account “has dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse,” and represents “a deliberate effort by a private company to silence Mr. Trump’s political voice.”
“Moreover, every day that President Trump’s political voice remains silenced furthers an inappropriate interference in the American political and election process,” the letter states.
The letter does not address the reason Trump was kicked off the platform in the first place — it does, however, note that Trump was allowed back on Twitter. Twitter CEO Elon Musk lifted Trump’s ban on the platform in November after putting the decision up to a poll.
He has not used the account despite being unbanned, and has said he plans to stick with TRUTH Social, the platform he founded after being banned from most social media sites.
Trump was removed from Facebook in January 2021, in the wake of the insurrection, over concerns his posts were inciting violence.
The company later said the removal was set to last for two years, at which point it would come under reassessment.
“We therefore write to request a meeting to discuss President Trump’s prompt reinstatement to the platform,” the letter says.
However, even as Trump announced his run for president in 2024, Facebook said in November it did not plan to reinstate him.
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