San Francisco, Jan 19 (IANS): Former US President Donald Trump is reportedly looking to regain control of his powerful social media accounts in order to make a comeback for the White House.

Trump's campaign is formally petitioning Facebook's parent company Meta to unblock his account, which was locked two years ago in response to the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, reports NBC News.

According to a copy reviewed by NBC News, Trump's campaign wrote in its letter to Meta, "We believe that the ban on President Trump's account on Facebook has dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse."

The campaign however, did not threaten a lawsuit.

Instead, it emphasised the importance of free speech and petitioned Meta for a "meeting to discuss President Trump's prompt reinstatement to the platform".

However, a Meta spokesperson said the company "will announce a decision in the coming weeks in accordance with the process we laid out", NBC News reported.

On January 7, Facebook ultimately decided to impose a limited ban on Trump, which would be reviewed after two years.

Twitter had planned a permanent ban, but on November 19, 2022, new owner Elon Musk reinstated Trump's account and then criticised the company's previous leadership for the ban.