Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged other countries to follow Nigeria’s lead and ban Twitter, as well as Facebook, claiming the reason he didn’t do it during his presidency is because of outreach from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Key Facts
Trump issued a statement congratulating Nigeria for blocking Twitter on Friday after the social media platform deleted a tweet by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, with Trump incorrectly claiming Buhari was “banned” by Twitter.
Trump, who was permanently banned from the platform after the Jan. 6 attack, said “more COUNTRIES should ban Twitter and Facebook,” while predicting competitors to the two companies will “emerge and take hold.”
Trump added “perhaps I should have done it while I was President,” claiming he only held off because Zuckerberg “kept calling” and “coming to the White House.”
Trump has long had a tumultuous relationship with the social media companies that facilitated his political rise, but relations became especially strained after he was banned from most mainstream platforms after Jan. 6.
Key Background
Trump spent much of 2020 attempting to ban the Chinese-owned upstart social media app TikTok through executive action, or at least force a sale of its U.S. operations to a domestic company, but the effort was repeatedly blocked by federal judges. Trying to ban a U.S.-headquartered company like Twitter would present far greater challenges.
Big Number
2. That’s the minimum number of years Trump will be banned from Facebook after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the company announced last week. After that period, the company will evaluate how much of a threat to public safety Trump’s presence on the platform would be.
This story first appeared in Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2021/06/08/trump-urges-countries-to-ban-twitter-and-facebook–says-perhaps-he-should-have-done-it/?sh=cae33ef48f7f