President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump pose for a photo in front of the statue of Saint John Paul II before participating in a wreath laying ceremony Tuesday, June 2, 2020, at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C. (Official White House photo by Andrea Hanks)
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg was one of the corporate executives who imposed a blackout on social-media posts by President Donald Trump back in January.
Now his company has gone further, banning Trump's "voice" in postings that include him, even if they are not his or by him.
The social-media giant censored a posting by Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, a new Fox News contributor, who posted an interview with him.
Facebook, in a statement from "Katelyn," immediately threatened "additional limitations" on "accounts" that include such material.
Facebook's statement was, "Hi folks, We are reaching out to let you know that we removed content from Lara Trump's Facebook Page that featured President Trump speaking. In line with the block we placed on Donald Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts, further content posted in the voice of Donald Trump will be removed and result in additional limitations on the accounts."
Fox had reported its contributor, Lara Trump, had posted an image on Instagram of her sitting across from her father-in-law asking viewers to "Join us tonight!"
Lara Trump speaks at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020 (RNC video screenshot)
Facebook retaliated with, "This guidance applies to all campaign accounts and Pages, including Team Trump, other campaign messaging vehicles on our platforms, and former surrogates."
Fox reported Facebook did not respond to a request for comment.
Facebook banished Donald Trump after the riot in January at the U.S. Capitol, when Zuckerberg claimed his company officials "believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great."
Owners of Twitter, Snapchat and YouTube joined in the chorus against Donald Trump.
The issue the campaign against his speech raises is one of the points that currently is a hot button topic in Washington, which is when social media giants essentially become monopolies, do they still have the right to banish viewpoints with which they disagree. They are protected from lawsuits if they don't exercise editorial control over content, but censoring viewpoints has been argued to be exactly that.
Only days ago, Trump senior adviser Jason Miller confirmed that Trump will be back on social media, likely bypassing the existing companies.
"I do think that we're going to see President Trump returning to social media in probably about two or three months here, with his own platform," Miller told Fox News' "#MediaBuzz earlier this month. "And this is something that I think will be the hottest ticket in social media, it's going to completely redefine the game, and everybody is going to be waiting and watching to see what exactly President Trump does."
Miller said meetings already were under way on the plan, and "numerous companies" had approached Trump.
"This new platform is going to be big," Miller predicted.
Newsweek reported Donald Trump revealed in the now-silenced 18-minute video interview that his supporters should have "hope" he will run for the White House again in 2024.
But he did not make a formal announcement.
The report explained, "Lara Trump, who is married to the former president's son, Eric Trump, asked about a possible third run for the presidency. Recent polling showed Trump is highly favored among Republicans for the party's 2024 nomination."
"The other question people all want to know—and I know you're not ready to answer it yet—but do we have hope that there's a possibility to see Donald Trump run again in 2024?" Lara Trump asked, the report said.
"You do have hope, that I can tell you," Trump said. "You do have hope. We love our country—this country. We all owe a lot to our country but now we have to help our country."
He said he's thinking about doing one of his campaign's famous – and always sold-out – rallies, "just to let everybody know that there's hope in the future."
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