Former President Donald Trump greets the crowd after announcing he is running for a third term as he speaks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. Son Barron Trump looks on. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Donald Trump may be running for president, but he still can’t use Facebook. The social media platform does not plan to reinstate Trump’s account after the former president announced Tuesday that he will seek a second term in the White House, the company confirmed Wednesday. Trump was banned from Facebook after the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. However, Trump may not have to wait long to return to the site. His suspension from Facebook is due to be reviewed in January, two years after it was first imposed. — One change will be immediate: As a candidate, Trump will no longer be subject to background checks on Facebook. That’s because under Facebook’s rules, comments by elected officials and candidates for office are not subject to fact checks on its site. AP participates in Facebook’s independent fact-checking program. Throughout his tenure as president, Trump’s use of social media has been a major challenge for major social media platforms as they try to balance the public’s need to hear from their elected leaders with concerns about misinformation, harassment and incitement to violence. After the January 6 uprising, Trump was also banned from Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram, which is owned by Facebook’s parent company Meta. Trump’s ability to post videos on his YouTube channel has been suspended. YouTube spokeswoman Ivy Choi said Wednesday that the company has no plans to lift the suspension. Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, said he disagrees with the platform’s decision to ban Trump after the Jan. 6 attack. Musk said no announcement will be made regarding the reinstatement of banned users until a content moderation board reviews the issue Twitter did not respond to questions about whether Trump’s candidacy would affect the decision. Since his suspension, Trump has launched his own social media platform, TruthSocial, and has said he has no plans to return to Twitter if allowed. Facebook initially placed a 24-hour suspension on Trump’s account on Jan. 6 after he praised the rioters who stormed the Capitol. Facebook creator and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced an indefinite suspension on January 7, adding that “the risks of allowing the President to continue using our services during this time are simply too great.” The company’s quasi-independent supervisory board upheld the ban, but asked Facebook to set a time limit. The ban is now set to expire on January 7, 2023.
