A Facebook spokesperson quickly shot down speculation on Wednesday that former President Donald Trump’s accounts on both Facebook and Instagram were back in his control.
“No. Nothing about the status of President Trump’s presence on our platform has changed. He remains indefinitely suspended,” Andy Stone, a Facebook spokesman, said in a tweet.
The tweet comes in response to social media chatter from people who saw Trump’s accounts were still visible, prompting some to suggest the former president was reinstated.
No. Nothing about the status of President Trump’s presence on our platform has changed. He remains indefinitely suspended.
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) June 2, 2021
Though some have interpreted their ability to comment on the president’s Facebook posts as an indication of his return to the platform, Stone reiterated to the Washington Examiner in a Wednesday email that no such setting on Trump’s account had changed.
Trump lost access to his accounts in January following the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“We believe the risks of allowing the president to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement at the time. “Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.”
Facebook‘s independent Oversight Board announced last month that Trump will remain banned from the company’s platform. The social media giant was then given six months to review Trump’s suspension once again to justify “a proportionate response that is consistent with the rules that are applied to other users of its platform,” the Oversight Board said.
Trump was also removed from other social media platforms, including Twitter.
The former president’s blog “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump” was taken off of his website, Jason Miller, a senior aide to Trump, said on Wednesday. The blog was used to publicize Trump’s statements. Miller said it “will not be returning.”
“It was just auxiliary to the broader efforts we have and are working on,” he told CNBC.
