How the Trump Social-Media Ban Paid Off for Trump, Platforms

Author: Editors Desk

January 9, 2022 at 15:17

The social-media ban has been a rallying point among Donald Trump’s supporters. PHOTO: RACHEL MUMMEY/REUTERS

One year after being kicked off Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, the former president is raking in campaign cash and planning his own social-media company

For an entire year, Donald Trump has been banned from mainstream social-media outlets. For the tech companies and the former president, there have been benefits.

From the business side, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube have all been able to say they took action against one of the most powerful voices on their platforms—after years of criticism that they failed to aggressively apply their rules to their highest-profile users.

Across the platforms, Mr. Trump had amassed approximately 150 million followers—including 35 million on Facebook and 88 million on Twitter—which put him among the most-watched world leaders.

But for the companies, banning his accounts hasn’t appeared to dent their traffic. Facebook and YouTube don’t report engagement for their specific units, but Twitter’s number of users has continued to climb.

Since his social-media ban—just days before he left the White House—mentions of Mr. Trump on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have decreased 88%, according to Zignal Labs, a company that analyzes content on social media.

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