- The Washington Times - Thursday, January 19, 2023

Former President Donald Trump is allowed to go back on Twitter, but his campaign also wants access to Facebook as it launches a 2024 presidential bid.

“We believe that the ban on President Trump’s account on Facebook has dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse,” the Trump campaign wrote in its letter to Facebook’s parent company, Meta, this week, according to a copy of the request reviewed by NBC News.

The petition seeks a meeting with Meta to “discuss President Trump’s prompt reinstatement to the platform.”

Mr. Trump was frozen out of major social-media platforms following his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, when a pro-Trump mob attacked the U.S. Capitol while Congress tried to certify Joseph R. Biden’s election victory.

Facebook planned to review Mr. Trump’s status two years after the ban in January 2021. The platform recently said it will make a decision about Mr. Trump’s status in line with the process it detailed earlier.

Mr. Trump’s ban from Twitter was supposed to be permanent, but new CEO Elon Musk reinstated him in November.

The ex-president hasn’t tweeted yet, but there is widespread speculation he will return after using Twitter. He used the platform to bolster his political standing before his 2016 run and to fire off missives during his time at the White House.

Mr. Trump set up his own platform, Truth Social, in October 2021.

• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.

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