Donald Trump posts on Facebook and YouTube for the first time since his suspension in January 2021

He is “back”. Donald Trump posted Friday, March 17 on Facebook and YouTube for the first time since his banishment two years ago following the assault on the Capitol. “I’M BACK!”wrote the former Republican president, who is seeking a second term in 2024. He accompanied these words with a short video from CNN, in which he is flanked by his vice president Mike Pence and his son Barron, and which seems to date from the evening of his election in 2016. “Sorry to keep you waiting, it was complicated”he says.

Earlier Friday, online video platform YouTube announced it was ending its suspension. “As of today, the channel ‘Donald J. Trump’ is no longer subject to restrictions”, said the American giant on Twitter. The Republican had been excluded from the social network in January 2021, while he was still in power, for having encouraged his supporters during the attack on Congress in Washington.

This unprecedented decision was imitated at the time by most mainstream social networks, including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. To justify its decision, YouTube said on Friday that it had evaluated “the risk of violence”while taking into account the importance for voters to hear “equally the major national candidates”. Donald Trump had already been re-admitted on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram in recent months. Until now, he communicated mainly through his own platform, Truth Social.