Donald Trump posted to Facebook and YouTube on Friday for the first time since his ouster two years ago following the storming of the Capitol.
“I’M BACK!” wrote the former Republican president, who is running for a second term in 2024. and which seems to date from the evening of his election in 2016. “Sorry to keep you waiting, it was difficult,” he says there. His post was met with hundreds of comments, including several “Good to see you again” and “What a relief to have you back, Mr. President.”
Earlier Friday, online video platform YouTube announced the end of the suspension. “As of today, the +Donald J. Trump+ channel is no longer subject to restrictions,” the American giant tweeted. The Republican was expelled from the social network in January 2021, when he was still in office, for cheering his supporters during the attack on Congress in Washington. This unprecedented decision was copied at the time by most of the major social networks, including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
To justify its decision, YouTube said on Friday it assessed the “risk of violence” given the importance for voters to hear “equally from mainstream national candidates.” Donald Trump has already been readmitted to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram in recent months. So far, he has communicated primarily through his own Truth Social platform.