(Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump posted to YouTube and Facebook on Friday in a return to the platforms he used to power his political rise until he was suspended after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. by its supporters.
Posts on his Facebook page and YouTube channel, titled “I’M BACK!”, show a CNN video announcing Trump’s election as president in the 2016 race against Hillary Clinton. It then disappears to a “Trump 2024” screen.
“Sorry to keep you guys waiting,” says Trump in the video.
YouTube, owned by Alphabet Inc, restored Trump’s channel earlier on Friday. Meta Platforms reinstated the former president’s Facebook and Instagram accounts earlier this year, while his Twitter account was restored in November by new owner Elon Musk, although Trump has yet to post there since returning.
Trump propelled his improbable 2016 presidential campaign through his use of social media. His return gives him access to major political campaign fundraising vehicles, allowing him to reach a combined 146 million followers across three major tech platforms as he makes another run for the White House in 2024.
“We carefully weigh the ongoing risk of real-world violence while balancing the chance for voters to equally listen to the top national candidates in the run-up to an election,” YouTube said in a tweet, referring to the ruling.
Trump’s campaign staff did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The former US President founded his own social media platform called Truth Social in late 2021, which he relied on to communicate with his supporters during his ban from Twitter and Meta.
YouTube banned Trump in 2021 for violating its policy of inciting violence after his supporters stormed the US Capitol as Congress began certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.
Critics around Trump on the platforms point to his messages on Truth Social, where he has nearly 5 million followers, as proof that the same risk that led to his suspensions still exists.
(Reporting by Shubham Kalii, Chavi Mehta and Eva Mathews in Bengaluru and Sheila Dang in Dallas);
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