Social media use by Donald Trump

The emergence of social media has changed the way in which political communication takes place in the United States. Political institutions such as politicians, political parties, foundations, institutions, and political think tanks are all using social media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, to communicate with and engage voters. Regular individuals, politicians, "pundits" and thought leaders alike are able to voice their opinions, engage with a wide network, and connect with other likeminded individuals. Trump used narrowcasting as well as broadcasting on traditional media to good effect. His 2024 campaign and second presidency made frequent use of AI-generated content and memes to attract attention, many of them portraying Trump as outlandish pop-culture icons. Several posts received criticism for being insensitive and dehumanizing, such as in images portraying himself as the Pope or mocking immigrants being deported. == Platforms ==

Twitter For most of Trump's first term, his account on Twitter, where he often posted controversial and false statements, In response, he said social media platforms "totally silence" conservatives and he would "strongly regulate, or close them down". During his 2020 reelection campaign, he falsely suggested that postal voting or electoral fraud may compromise the election, prompting Twitter to either remove such tweets or label them as disputed. and the accounts of allies who posted on his behalf, like Trump campaign digital director Gary Coby. Twitter also deleted three tweets by Trump on the @POTUS handle and barred access to the presidential account until Joe Biden's inauguration. In November 2022, Twitter's new owner, Elon Musk, reinstated his account, but the account remained inactive until he tweeted again in August 2024. In April 2023, at his arraignment hearing, Trump was warned by Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan not to use social media to incite violence. Facebook and Instagram Banned from both platforms On January 6, 2021, amidst an attack at the Capitol while Congress was counting the electoral votes, Trump posted a short video. Facebook removed it and blocked Trump's ability to post new content to both platforms. Facebook's vice president of integrity, Guy Rosen, explained that the video "contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence." (YouTube also removed the same video. Twitter at first disabled comments; later, the Tweet was deleted.) The next day, Facebook said the block would remain at least until the end of Trump's term on January 20. On May 5, 2021, after considering whether to reinstate Trump's account, Facebook's Oversight Board upheld Trump's suspensions on Facebook and Instagram but instructed Meta Platforms to reassess the indefinite ban within six months, stating that "it is not permissible for Facebook to keep a user off the platform for an undefined period, with no criteria for when or whether the account will be restored." One month later, Facebook decided to extend Trump's ban to two years, as his actions "merit the highest penalty available under the new enforcement protocols," and reconsider his case no earlier than January 7, 2023. On July 7, 2021, Trump announced class action lawsuits against Facebook, Twitter, and Google for alleged censorship of conservative voices. In January 2025, Meta Platforms agreed to pay $25 million to settle the lawsuit against Facebook, with $22 million going to Trump's future presidential library and the remainder to legal fees and other litigants. On February 7, 2023, Meta reinstated Trump on Facebook and Instagram, having announced two weeks earlier that the risk to public safety had "sufficiently receded." Meta said there would be “new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses" and that Trump could be banned for up to two years at a time in the future if he reoffends. Facebook During his 2016 campaign, Trump posted a number of ads on his Facebook page attacking Hillary Clinton. The ads included parodies of Pokémon Go but Facebook countered that Trump had been charged more. Trump also used the platform to issue an apology for the Access Hollywood tape. In response, Trump criticized Facebook in a series of tweets on September 27, 2017. "Facebook was always anti-Trump," he said, simultaneously extending the same criticism to "the Networks," The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a statement to Facebook: "Trump says Facebook is against him. Liberals say we helped Trump. Both sides are upset about ideas and content they don't like. That's what running a platform for all ideas looks like." A large Facebook group called "Stop the Steal" was dedicated to the idea that the November 2020 election was "stolen" from Trump by some type of fraud. Two days after the election, Facebook banned the group and its hashtags. Instagram Trump initially used his personal account on Instagram (@realDonaldTrump) primarily to share personal pictures, including images of himself with his grandchildren. media personality Milo Yiannopoulos. YouTube From 2011 until 2013 or 2014, Trump created over 80 installments of a vlog on YouTube called "From the Desk of Donald Trump". In it, he discussed a variety of topics, ranging from serious issues such as the Libyan Civil War, Obamacare, and the American job market to less weighty matters, including the Vanity Fair Oscar party and his dislike of Mike McGlone's Rhetorical Questions advertisements for GEICO. On January 26, 2021, YouTube extended the ban stating, "In light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, the Donald J. Trump channel will remain suspended. Our teams are staying vigilant and closely monitoring for any new developments." On March 4, 2021, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki stated that YouTube will lift the suspension on Donald Trump's channel when "the risk of violence has decreased." On July 7, 2021, Trump filed a class action lawsuit against YouTube and its CEO. On March 17, 2023, YouTube reinstated Trump's YouTube account. Snapchat On June 3, 2020, Snapchat announced that it would no longer promote Trump's account on its "Discover" page, which curates stories from celebrities and politicians. This followed the President's sharing of his controversial June 1 photo outside St. John's Church, which had been taken after dispersing protestors from the area using tear gas. He had also shared screenshots of several tweets. Three days earlier, co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel had sent a company memo stating that "we simply cannot promote accounts in America that are linked to people who incite racial violence, whether they do so on or off our platform." On January 6, 2021, following the attack at the United States Capitol, Snapchat locked Trump's account. The company announced on January 13, 2021, that it would keep his account blocked permanently. As of 2026, Snapchat is the only platform not to have reinstated Trump. Twitch Trump has a Twitch account used primarily to broadcast his rallies. On June 29, 2020, his account was temporarily banned. Twitch stated the ban was made because of violations in their rules against hate speech. They pointed out an incident in 2016 where Trump made comments about rapists, drug dealers, and criminals coming to America from Mexico and an incident in his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2020 where he told a fictional story of a "tough hombre" breaking into someone's home as proof of these violations. This ban was lifted two weeks later. On January 7, 2021, Trump's Twitch account was disabled indefinitely. This was done in response to Trump's alleged incitement of the Capitol attack. On July 19, 2024, Twitch reinstated Trump's Twitch account. Triller In August 2020, Trump joined Triller and was immediately verified and promoted on the app. His action was interpreted by many as a move against TikTok, a Chinese competitor of Triller's. Parler Parler, a social media platform that launched in 2018, attracted supporters of Donald Trump from its beginning. The Trump campaign has a Parler account, although Trump himself does not have a personal account as of early January 2021. Other Parler users include Trump's former campaign director Brad Parscale; Trump's son, Eric Trump; Senator Ted Cruz; and White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. After Facebook banned the "Stop the Steal" group several days after the November 2020 election, many of those people moved to Parler. There had been speculation that Donald Trump might move to Parler, although the platform remained relatively small compared to the Twitter platform he was accustomed to. After Trump was banned from Twitter and other platforms, his son-in-law Jared Kushner reportedly obstructed him from moving to Parler and Gab. Gab In early February 2021, multiple media outlets falsely reported that former-President Trump had joined Gab under the handle @realdonaldtrump. The Independent speculated "that confusion arose from the presence of a blue check mark indicating the account was verified" and Vice News speculated that the bio of the account, which read "45th President of the United States of America. Uncensored posts from the @realDonaldTrump Feed." had also caused confusion. On December 14, 2021, it was announced that Rumble was already providing cloud services to the Truth Social beta website. Gettr A new platform called Gettr was launched on July 4, 2021, with Jason Millean advisor to Trump's 2016 and 2020 campaignsas CEO. Trump was reportedly not involved in Gettr, though Miller hoped he would join the platform. TikTok Though Trump had previously threatened to ban TikTok, Bluesky In response to a May 2025 interview question by Wired whether Trump would be welcome as a Bluesky user, CEO Jay Graber stressed that "Yeah—Bluesky's for everyone, and we think that over time, the broader public conversation needs to be on an open protocol. That lets people choose their own moderation preferences." On October 17, 2025, several Trump administration agencies began posting on Bluesky, including the Department of Homeland Security which included a video clip of Graber saying "Bluesky's for everyone" in one of their first posts. == Self-hosted media activity ==

Shortly after Trump left office, he quietly incorporated Trump Media & Technology Group in February 2021, a company that had no significant funding. On October 20, 2021, Trump Media and Technology Group obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in funding by agreeing to merge with Digital World Acquisition, and the anticipated creation of a social media app called "Truth Social" was announced that same day. The existence of the website 45office.com was formally announced a week later on March 29. It included a biography and photos of Trump and his wife. Visitors could make requests for personalized greetings or attendance at an event. The site centered around a history of Donald Trump's presidency that did not make mention of two impeachments, of any COVID-19 death toll, of the economic crash that followed the pandemic, or of the Capitol attack that marked the end of his term. From the Desk of Donald J. Trump On May 4, 2021, Trump launched a new web page, "From the Desk of Donald J. Trump," where he was posting messages under 280 characters that visitors could share to Facebook or Twitter (platforms that had banned Trump from having his own accounts there). Although the site claimed to be a "communications platform" where his supporters could "freely and safely" speak, there was no way for users to post any content of their own nor to reply to Trump's posts. The day the blog launched, it had 159,000 social media interactions; on the second day, less than one-fifth that amount; and on subsequent days, at least for the next two weeks, it never reached 10 percent of the interaction of its first day. According to an estimate by The Washington Post, in mid-May, "Trump's website – including his new blog, fundraising page and online storefront – attracted fewer estimated visitors than the pet-adoption service Petfinder and the recipe site Delish." The site was permanently closed less than a month after its launch. == Truth Social ==

On October 20, 2021, it was announced that Trump would be launching a new social media website called Truth Social. It is run by Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), a company incorporated in February 2021 and which on October 20, 2021, made a deal to merge with a special purpose acquisition company, Digital World Acquisition, that will fund it. The Republican National Committee sent an email the next day asking supporters to join Truth Social. Truth Social debuted in Apple's App Store in February 2022, and had reportedly drawn 1.2 million installations by the end of March. According to reports, Trump has a licensing agreement with TMTG requiring him to use Truth Social as his primary social media platform, and to wait at least six hours before reposting material to any other social media platform, with some exceptions for political activities. In 2023, in relation to his federal prosecution for allegedly inciting the January 6 United States Capitol attack, Trump made a post to Truth Social stating "IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I'M COMING AFTER YOU!", which was interpreted by prosecutors as a threat towards "witnesses, judges, attorneys, and others associated with legal matters pending against him". As a result, the Department of Justice requested a protective order against Donald Trump to prevent him from making public statements regarding the case. The order was issued on August 11, 2023. As Trump encountered further legal problems including the prospect of more civil and criminal trials, he made numerous passionate posts to Truth Social regarding these matters and those involved in them. Commentators described some of them as 'rants' and 'unhinged'. In April 2024, Trump was held in contempt of court in a New York court in relation to Truth Social posts about his business records falsification trial (the so-called "hush money trial") that violated a gag order made by the court. To comply with orders from the court, Trump deleted the postings from Truth Social. On February 5, 2026, an animated video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes was "re-truthed" from Trump's account, and subsequently deleted the following day after receiving backlash from both Democrats and Republicans. The White House initially defended the video, but later claimed it was posted by an unidentified staffer. Trump later admitted that he himself shared the video and refused to apologize for it. On February 14, Trump posted a lengthy statement decriding Bill Maher for allegedly not being respectful after the dinner and criticizing his recent policies on Real Time with Bill Maher. On April 5, 2026, Trump posted a curse-filled statement on Truth Social threatening to attack Iranian civilian resources (bridges and power plants). The post read: The post was criticized by the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) as mocking Allah and Islam and criticized by both Republicans and Democrats as being reckless and insensitive, especially since it was posted on Easter Sunday. The next Tuesday, Trump posted "A whole ⁠civilization will ⁠die tonight, never to be brought back ⁠again. I don’t want that to happen, but ⁠it probably will". The post prompted more than 70 lawmakers to call for invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office. Amnesty International stated that Trump's statement may constitutes as a threat to commit genocide, according to the Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute. Jack Reed, a Democrat senator from Rhode Island, stated that threatening to eliminate a civilization is "comparable to genocide". The following Sunday, Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself depicted as Jesus healing a sick man. Numerous news outlets ran stories about the picture, resulting in widespread condemnation, in particular from Evangelicals and Catholics. As a result, Trump deleted the post hours later, and then told reporters, "It's supposed to be me as a doctor". ==See also==