Former President Donald Trump published his first posts on his reactivated Facebook and YouTube accounts on Friday, more than two years after he was barred from doing so due to the US Capitol insurgency.
“I’M BACK,” Trump said, accompanied by a 12-second video clip that appeared to show him giving his victory speech after winning the 2016 election, as he exclaimed, “Sorry to keep you waiting — complicated business.”
The 76-year-old Republican leader, who is running for president for the second time, has been unable to post content for his 34 million Facebook followers and 2.6 million YouTube subscribers.
The platforms benched Trump days after the January 6, 2021 insurrection, when a mob of his supporters seeking to halt the certification of his election defeat to Joe Biden stormed the US Capitol in Washington.
He was sanctioned for posting content that the platforms said incited unrest, with YouTube announcing his reinstatement on Friday, two months after Facebook said it was unlocking his account.
The former reality TV star had spent weeks falsely claiming that the presidential election was stolen from him, and he was subsequently impeached for inciting the riot.