Facebook and Instagram removed an interview of former President Donald Trump by his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, citing their blackouts of the former president.
The moves by the social-media giants came late Tuesday after Ms. Trump, a Fox News contributor, conducted an 18-minute interview with Mr. Trump on her podcast, “The Right View With Lara Trump.” She has 1.4 followers.
Ms. Trump promised her 1.4 million followers “quite a surprise,” but she later told them in an Instagram post that the social-media companies had removed the interview with Mr. Trump.
“And just like that, we are one step closer to Orwell’s 1984,” Lara Trump wrote. “Wow.”
She posted a message from Facebook telling her, “We are reaching out to let you that we removed content from Lara Trump’s Facebook page that featured President Trump speaking.”
“In line with the block we placed on Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, further content posted in the voice of Donald Trump will be removed and result in additional limitations on the accounts,” the email stated.
Eric Trump also posted a copy of an email he received from Facebook, saying the policy applied to all campaign accounts and pages, and to former surrogates of the 45th president.
“This is so horrible – what is our country becoming?” Eric Trump posted on Instagram.
Facebook did not immediately respond for comment.
During the interview with Lara Trump, the former president said of running again in 2024, “You do have hope, that I can tell you, you do have hope. We love our country, this country, we all owe a lot to our country, but now we have to help our country.”
He also criticized the situation at the southern border. saying that many migrants have stated that President Biden was the reason they came to the U.S.
“Look at our borders, look what’s happening,” Mr. Trump said. “We had the best southern border that we’ve ever had and in one day he said, ’Everybody come up,’ and what’s going on now is something compared to what’s going to take place during the summer.”
Mr. Trump and former first lady Melania Trump launched their official website on Monday. Mr. Trump reportedly is also actively pursuing plans to launch his own social-media platform later this year.
The former president had about 80 million Twitter followers. But he has been banned from social media platforms since the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, which he has been blamed for inciting.
Since leaving office, Mr. Trump has communicated with the public mainly through emailed statements, and an occasional TV interview.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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