Facebook removes ‘voice of Donald Trump’ from platform

An interview with the former president by Lara Trump, a new Fox News contributor, had been posted to her Facebook page, but later disappeared.

Trump then posted a screenshot of two emails she had received from Facebook – one warning that content “in the voice of Donald Trump” is currently not allowed on the platform, and another later confirming that the video had been removed “in line with the block we placed on Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts”.

The social network has not commented further on the decision.

Lara Trump, who is married to the former president’s son Eric, has since posted a link to the interview on another website.

Facebook, along with a number of other social media platforms, banned Trump from their sites in the wake of the violence at the US Capitol on January 6 as politicians certified Joe Biden’s election victory, and after Trump called those who stormed the Capitol “patriots”, adding “We love you”.

At the time, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg said the social media giant had taken the decision because Trump had used the platform to “incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government”.

He added that the risk of allowing the then-president to continue using Facebook at that time was “too great”.

The decision to remove Trump remains under review by Facebook’s independent oversight board, which was set up to rule on controversial content moderation decisions.

The former president may even create his own platform as a way of returning to social media, with his senior adviser, Jason Miller, telling Fox News earlier this month that Trump is considering such a move.