FACT CHECK: Did Donald Trump Return To Instagram Following The Recent Facebook Outage?
A viral Instagram post claims former President Donald Trump returned to Instagram following the recent Facebook outage.
Verdict: False
Trump did not return to Instagram after the outage. His profile remains suspended, and new content has not been posted to it since before Facebook issued the suspension.
Fact Check:
Facebook’s platforms – Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – experienced a widespread hours-long outage across the world on Monday, according to the Associated Press. The cause of the outage was a “faulty configuration change,” Facebook said in a press release.
A viral Instagram post attempted to suggest Trump’s Instagram access was restored when Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp came back online after the outage, saying, “The Network Goes Down..And Boom Guess Who’s Bizzack When the Lights Come On??” It includes a screen grab of Trump’s verified Instagram page.
Facebook announced on Jan. 7, the day after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building, that it had indefinitely blocked Trump from using his Facebook and Instagram accounts. In response to the Facebook Oversight Board’s decision on the case, Facebook said in June that it would suspend Trump from its platforms for two years and “look to experts to assess whether the risk to public safety has receded” at the end of that time period.
There is no indication in Facebook press releases or Instagram blog posts that the period of Trump’s suspension from the platforms has changed. While his Instagram and Facebook accounts are visible, the most recent posts on the respective pages both date back to before Jan. 7. Archived screen grabs of his Facebook and Instagram accounts show they have been visible but unchanged since his suspension.
A spokesperson for Facebook confirmed to Check Your Fact via email Thursday that Trump’s Instagram account remains suspended and unable to post new content. (RELATED: Were Donald Trump’s Facebook And Instagram Accounts Restored On June 2?)
Check Your Fact previously debunked a similar, viral claim that Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts had been restored in early June.
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