Donald Trump is posting statements online, but he’s not back on Twitter
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An Instagram post used text from a statement Trump posted on his website to make it appear as though the statement was made on Twitter, where Trump is permanently suspended.
Donald Trump posted a statement ahead of Memorial Day, lamenting higher gas prices and lauding his performance as president.
But despite what you might have seen on Instagram, the statement wasn’t made on Twitter, where Trump once had nearly 89 million followers.
The widely shared Instagram post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
On May 27, Trump posted a statement on DonaldJTrump.com noting the approach of Memorial Day, the recent rise in gasoline prices and “how great of a job Donald Trump did as President.”
The full text of the statement appeared in the Instagram post, but it was formatted to make it appear as though it came from @realDonaldTrump, Trump’s former Twitter account. The Instagram poster wrote in his caption: “He’s back!!!”
He’s not.
Twitter announced Jan. 8 it had permanently suspended Trump’s account in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol two days earlier, saying: “After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
Citing two Trump tweets on Jan. 8, Twitter said: “We assessed the two Tweets referenced above under our Glorification of Violence policy, which aims to prevent the glorification of violence that could inspire others to replicate violent acts and determined that they were highly likely to encourage and inspire people to replicate the criminal acts that took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
A Twitter spokesperson confirmed May 28 that Trump’s account remains permanently suspended. It appears the message used by the Instagram account came from an account called @realDonaldTrump on Gab.com, an alternative social networking site, that says it is an “uncensored Twitter archive and shares email statements sent by The Office of Donald J. Trump.”
When we searched @realDonaldTrump on Twitter on May 28, a message appeared saying the account has been suspended.
We rate the Instagram post False.
