Donald Trump and Facebook have both decayed since his ban, and despite his unpredictability and tech's recent wild swings, his reinstatement may not matter much
Trump is key to social media company's success Travis Gettys / Raw Story : Trump official: Former president would look ‘pathetic’ if he returns to Facebook — and destroy his ‘useless’ Truth Social platform Elizabeth Nolan Brown / Reason : Trump's Facebook and Instagram Accounts To Be Reinstated Tom Jones / Poynter : Trump will be allowed back on Facebook Andrew Griffin / The Independent : Meta lays out special rules that will apply to Donald Trump when he returns to Facebook and Instagram Nikolas Lanum / Fox News : MSNBC panel melts down over Facebook 'devil's bargain' with Trump, warns it will end democracy Bronson Winslow / The Daily Caller : ‘Hate, Racism And Misogyny:’ Dems, Liberal Activists Melt Down Over Meta's Decision To Allow Trump Back On Facebook Diana Glebova / The Daily Caller : ACLU Issues Support For Trump Returning To Facebook Helsinki Times : Meta to reinstate Facebook, Instagram accounts of Donald Trump David Gilbert / VICE : Facebook Is Bringing Back Trump and All His QAnon Content Nord News : Meta restores Donald Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts Bradley Cortright / IJR : NYT Editorial Board Member Asks if Meta Wants to ‘Take Down the Country’ by Reinstating Trump Kishalaya Kundu / Screen Rant : Here's Why Meta Is Allowing Donald Trump Back On Facebook & Instagram Claire Goforth / The Daily Dot : ‘Screw Zuckerberg’: Truth Social users despair as Facebook OKs Trump's return NBC News : Chuck Todd: Trump regained his ‘powerful megaphone’ with Facebook return Caleb Ecarma / Vanity Fair : Meta's Rationale for Letting Trump Back on Facebook Couldn't Be More Dumb Amnesty International USA : Meta Must Guard Against Human Rights Risks After Lifting Bans On Trump's Facebook And Instagram Accounts Nicole Silverio / The Daily Caller : NYT Editor Says With Straight Face: Trump Facebook Posts Could ‘Take Down The Country’ Joseph Weber / Just The News : Trump responds to Facebook reinstatement, says move cost ‘billions,’ was undeserved ‘retribution’ Newswise : It's not just about Trump, it's about content moderation standards Catherine Salgado / Newsbusters : Mostly Non-American Meta Oversight Board Weighs in on Trump Reinstatement Azernews.Az : Meta to restore Trump's accounts Tom Fogden / B&T : Meta Reinstates Donald Trump On Facebook, Instagram Michele Blood / TheBlaze : ACLU faces friendly fire after defending Facebook and Instagram's decision to reinstate Trump Tyler O'Neil / The Daily Signal : Meta's Decision to Lift Trump Facebook Ban ‘Does Not Excuse Deliberate Interference’ in Elections, Expert Says Fatma Khaled / Newsweek : ACLU Backing Trump's Reinstatement to Facebook Sparks Debate Mashable : Stephen Colbert blasts Meta's plans to reinstate Trump on Facebook and Instagram Nick Clegg / Meta : Ending Suspension of Trump's Accounts With New Guardrails to Deter Repeat Offenses Vishnu Sarangapurkar / Android Central : Trump to be reinstated on Facebook and Instagram soon, Meta confirms Associated Press : Trump's return to Facebook could be major fundraising boost Semafor : What Trump's return to Facebook actually means for his campaign Telegraph India : Donald Trump's Facebook, Instagram accounts to be restored VOA / The Observer : Facebook reinstates ex-US president Trump's account after 2-year suspension Roger Montti / Search Engine Journal : Meta Reinstates Trump to Facebook & Instagram Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg : Trump's Return to Facebook Could Be Short-Lived Financial Times : FirstFT: Trump Facebook ban lifted WRAL TechWire : Trump's return: Facebook says ‘public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying — the good, the bad and the ugly’ Axios : Meta plans to reinstate Donald Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks with “new guardrails to deter repeat offenses”, after a two-year ban Bob Cronin / Newser : Meta Decides to Welcome Trump Back Tweets: Jesse Lehrich / @jesselehrich : omg the sub-header here is even more brutal than the @cwarzel piece itself ☠️ https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... https://twitter.com/... Amanda Marcotte / @amandamarcotte : All of Meta's given reasons for restoring Trump's account are bad faith and laughably easy to punch through. The real reason is not hard to suss out: He's the worst troll on the internet, and trolling is big money for social media companies. https://www.salon.com/... Jocelyn Benson / @jocelynbenson : Hey @Meta: Trump's baseless, false attacks on the 2020 election still generate harassment & violent threats aimed at election officials across the country, on both sides of the aisle. Your decision will lead to more harm aimed at us & our families. https://www.cnn.com/... Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel : trump and facebook are two things that used to be popular but that most people are tired of and whose popularity is kept afloat by internet-addled aging rageposters. they deserve each other but i dunno if any of this matters as much as it did in 2021. https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... Jeffrey Swisher / @jeffreyswisher : It's no surprise that Mark Zuckerberg let Trump back on Facebook. He has always been a coward. I was there in the front row when he almost passed out in sweaty fear while being gently grilled on his pathetic privacy policy by my sister @karaswisher. https://twitter.com/... Wajahat Ali / @wajahatali : None of us have a right to a social media platform. It's up to these private companies to host us or not. They allegedly have standards & guidelines. Trump broke all of them and promotes lies, hate and conspiracies that creates violence. Musk and Meta CHOOSE to platform him. @bettemidler : Wow. POS #META, parent of #Facebook and #Instagram will let that sorry excuse for a human being back on their platforms. He should be banned permanently; he's a menace to society. They must be desperate. #repulsive @naacp : “[Meta CEO] Mark Zuckerberg's decision to reinstate Trump's accounts is a prime example of putting profits above people's safety,” said NAACP President @DerrickNAACP. https://www.npr.org/... @amnestyusa : BREAKING: Meta must guard against human rights risks after lifting bans on Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts Michael Kleinman, Senior Director of Technology and Human Rights at @Amnestyusa, said: https://www.amnestyusa.org/... Robert Reich / @rbreich : Why the hell is Zuckerberg giving Donald Trump a free pass to lie and incite violence? The last time Trump's election lies went unchecked, he abused his massive online megaphone to incite the violent January 6th insurrection — which led to his ban in the first place. @muellershewrote : One of the reasons violence didn't erupt as much as it could have when Donald's home was searched was because he didn't have much of a social media reach. That @Meta is going to restore that for him ahead of possible indictments is dangerous, and blood will be on their hands @dashdobrofsky : Meta has decided to reinstate Donald Trump's account on Facebook & Instagram. In other words, Mark Zuckerberg witnessed the deadly January 6th Insurrection and J6 Committee hearings — and still came to the conclusion that Trump should be given a megaphone to do it all over again. David Lapan / @davelapandc : “But according to Nick Clegg, the company's president of global affairs, the public-safety risk that triggered the punishment ‘has sufficiently receded.’” Clegg is wrong. Jan 6, 2021 has passed but the threats posed by the ex-president's lies have not! https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... Daphne Keller / @daphnehk : OMG the subheading on this article: “At least the platform finally added a user.” ❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥 https://twitter.com/... Jen Monroe / @thatjenmonroe : Charlie with the sane take https://twitter.com/... Juliette Kayyem / @juliettekayyem : Whatever one thinks of Facebook's decision, I really enjoy the fact that they defend it based on Trump's decreasing relevance. Whether true or not, does he really want to be part of a social network who is allowing him on because he's a loser? Plus. . . https://twitter.com/... Ryan Butner / @rsbutner : Trump getting his platform back doesn't mean much in 2023. The GOP was throughly remade in his image, and no longer needs him. Platform or not. If anything, the continued obsession with him feels more like a failure to adapt from his critics than anything else https://twitter.com/... Ben Dreyfuss / @bendreyfuss : @cwarzel i mean...i appreciate the creativity of this comparison but Facebook is actually still super infrastructural and important to probably a majority of Americans, whereas Trump is central to a minority of one political party Will Carless / @willcarless : Trump was allowed back on Twitter weeks ago. He hasn't tweeted. https://twitter.com/... Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel : Wrote about Facebook reinstating Trump and my (probably unpopular opinion) is that both the man and the platform have decayed significantly in cultural relevance since we last had this debate https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... Dan Munro / @danmunro : ... the world *is* moving on ... and away from the “rageposters.” . https://twitter.com/... Cheri Jacobus / @cherijacobus : “internet-addled aging rageposters” is the name of my new garage band. https://twitter.com/... @theatlantic : Many people still support Trump, and many people still use Facebook products, but the shine is gone—and that matters, @cwarzel writes. https://on.theatln.tc/OBAq7mM Damon Beres / @dlberes : A definitive statement on this news from @cwarzel: Both Facebook and Trump have lost, and I quote, “the juice” https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... Barry Ritholtz / @ritholtz : $META has lost two-thirds of its value (~$700 billion dollars) since its Sept 2021 peak. Will going full Elon/MAGA help? (It's working so well for Twitter & $TSLA) At least the platform finally added a user... https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... https://twitter.com/... Robby Soave / @robbysoave : I rarely agree with Charlie but he's mostly right about this. https://twitter.com/... Paul Bisceglio / @paulbisceglio : “There is something underwhelming—stale, even—about the news.” Smart and clarifying, by @cwarzel: https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... See also Mediagazer