Trump launches new blog before Facebook ban decision

Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and Twitter banned him after Capitol riot

Mr Trump was banned from many social media sites following the January 6 Capitol riot. Reuters

Former US president Donald Trump launched a new blog on Tuesday, months after he was banned from his accounts on several major social media platforms.

The new blog, hosted on his official website, is titled From the Desk of Donald J Trump. Site visitors can only share or "heart" his posts.

Fox News first reported on the page, calling it a "communications platform", but visitors cannot interact with Mr Trump.

He was banned from Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and his favoured platform Twitter after a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, leading to five deaths.

The social media companies said some of Mr Trump's posts had been deemed dangerous or threatening.

It is not yet clear if the new blog is a breach of the bans issued by these companies, as visitors can share posts on other social media sites.

Facebook's independent oversight board on Wednesday will issue its recommendation of whether the social platform should keep the ban against Mr Trump in place.

The new blog follows reports that the Trump team was working on a social media platform for him and supporters to post on.

Mr Trump's senior adviser, Jason Miller, tweeted that the blog was not the communications platform the team has been working on.

"This is not a new social media platform," Mr Miller said. "We’ll have additional information coming on that front in the very near future."

Mr Trump has issued written statements through his press secretary since the bans and his departure from the White House.