As Meta considers whether to allow former President Donald Trump back on its platforms, his increasingly extreme behavior on his social media platform Truth Social — pushing misinformation and amplifying conspiracy theories — demonstrates the potential real-world harm that such a move would pose.

Meta suspended Trump from posting on its platforms for at least two years after the January 6 insurrection, publicly citing his use of Facebook “to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.” Less than four months from now, Meta will decide whether “the risk to public safety has receded” to allow Trump back on Facebook and Instagram — which Meta global affairs president Nick Clegg recently suggested was likely. According to Clegg, “accuracy or sentiment about” Trump’s content would not be a “driving factor” in the decision to end his suspension.

While suspended from Meta’s platforms and other social media, Trump launched Truth Social in February to get back online and avoid moderation. The platform has become a home for dangerous and hateful content, including Trump’s own 1,524 posts (through October 2) and an additional 673 posts that he has shared. In fact, many of these posts are centered around pushing election misinformation, attacking and inciting violence against his political foes, and promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory.

Trump’s activity on Truth Social mirrors his behavior on Facebook before he was suspended and his extreme rhetoric even since the violence on January 6. Media Matters previously found that roughly a quarter of Trump’s Facebook posts between January 1, 2020, and when he was suspended on January 6, 2021, contained COVID-19 misinformation, election lies, or extreme rhetoric about his critics. Trump also maintained a presence on Facebook since being suspended, with Facebook ads from his joint fundraising committee pushing election misinformation and Facebook videos of Trump’s misinformation-filled rallies that have earned millions of views.

Trump continues to push and amplify election misinformation, other false claims, and the QAnon conspiracy theory on Truth Social.

Trump amplified QAnon at least 315 times on Twitter before being suspended, and has since more openly embraced the conspiracy movement — continuing to amplify such accounts and using a QAnon-related song during campaign events. The QAnon conspiracy theory has been tied to various acts of real world violence and is considered a potential domestic terror threat by the FBI. Meta's policies against militarized social movements include a ban on accounts promoting QAnon, but Clegg has decided to highlight Facebook’s likelihood of restoring Trump’s account at a time when Trump has increasingly promoted the conspiracy theory.

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.