Donald Trump posted to Facebook and YouTube on Friday for the first time since his banishment two years ago following the attack on the Capitol.
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“I’m BACK!” wrote the former Republican president, who is seeking a second term in 2024.
He accompanied those words with a short CNN video of himself being flanked by his Vice President Mike Pence and his son Barron, which appears to be from the night of his election in 2016.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, it was complicated,” he said.
His message was met with hundreds of comments, including several “Nice to see you again” and “What a relief to have you back, Mr President”.
Earlier on Friday, online video platform YouTube announced that it was ending its suspension.
“As of today, the channel ‘Donald J. Trump’ is no longer subject to restrictions,” said the US giant on Twitter.
The Republican was banned from the social network in January 2021, while he was still in power, for encouraging his supporters to attack Congress in Washington.
This unprecedented decision was emulated by most mainstream social networks at the time, including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
To justify its decision, YouTube said on Friday that it had assessed “the risk of violence” while considering how important it was for voters to hear “evenly from key national candidates.”
Donald Trump had already been allowed back on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram in the past few months. So far, he has mainly communicated via his own platform, Truth Social.