Social media giant Meta recently restored former President Donald Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts which had been suspended since the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, allowing him to return to an existing web of pro-Trump pages and groups that are ready to amplify his content. New research from Media Matters and the public advocacy nonprofit Advance Democracy examined a large network of dozens of websites, Facebook pages, and private Facebook groups that amplify pro-Trump content containing election misinformation and conspiracy theories to millions of people, including boosting his websites and previous Facebook posts.
On March 17 — after Meta lifted Trump’s more than two year suspension in February — Trump resumed posting on Facebook. Meta restored his accounts on its platforms three months after he officially launched his 2024 presidential campaign, claiming that “the serious risk to public safety that existed in January 2021 has sufficiently receded.” The company’s decision to reinstate Trump’s accounts ignored his previous history of amplifying misinformation on Facebook and his recent behavior promoting extremism on his own social media platform, Truth Social.
Trump has also already taken advantage of his newly restored full access to Meta’s advertising, which has historically been a cornerstone of his campaign strategy. On March 18, Trump resumed running new Facebook ads from his own page since his reinstatement — meaning Meta was profiting from his newly-reinstated page while he was on Truth Social calling for his supporters to “PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”
As Trump resumes posting on Facebook, a preexisting infrastructure of pro-Trump and right-wing networks that promote conspiracy theories and misinformation is ready to boost his new content. This includes the Making Web network, which Slate described in 2018 as “part of a cottage industry of highly engaged Donald Trump fan pages that know how to get more likes, shares, and clicks than many of the traditional news outlets against which they compete for Facebook users’ attention.” At the time, Making Web had “eight pro-Trump Facebook pages that together count about 8 million followers,” but it has grown substantially since then.
The network now consists of at least three companies, 19 websites, 38 Facebook pages, and five private groups, with nearly 18 million combined users. This large network amplifies right-wing political narratives and pro-Trump content, including amplifying posts from Trump’s Facebook page at least 223 times since 2015, earning nearly 480,000 total interactions.
Since Trump returned to Facebook, some of these pro-Trump pages have already amplified the news of his return, with one page sharing his first post back to the platform.
Making Web and its affiliates amplified right-wing and pro-Trump content across Facebook
The Making Web network operates at least 19 websites that publish right-wing political content to nearly 900,000 combined monthly visitors. This content includes election-related conspiracy theories, COVID-19 misinformation, and racist screeds. Notably, responses to the network’s Facebook pages sharing these articles have included calls for violence against Democrats and LGBTQ people.
The Making Web network also features at least 38 Facebook pages and five private groups with a combined following of nearly 18 million accounts. In 2022, Making Web’s network of Facebook pages shared more than 51,000 posts, collectively earning over 76 million total interactions. So far this year, Making Web’s Facebook pages have shared more than 5,700 posts, earning over 6.6 million total interactions.
The network of Facebook pages frequently promote Making Web’s websites — including TrendingPolitics.com and ILoveMyFreedom.com. The network's pages have amplified TrendingPolitics.com most often since 2015. From July through September 2022, the site had over 362,000 unique monthly visitors, and Making Web’s Facebook pages shared 462 posts linking to it, earning nearly 700,000 total interactions.
Pages in the Making Web network have also paid Meta more than $6.3 million since 2018 to run more than 15,700 Facebook and Instagram advertisements, including ads promoting merchandise related to Trump’s 2024 presidential candidacy.
The Making Web network has boosted Trump’s content on Facebook since 2015
The Making Web network has long supported Trump and even reportedly rented out its “I Love My Freedom” email list to Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign.
Since 2015, Making Web’s Facebook pages have posted at least 232 times directing users to either Trump’s Facebook page or one of his websites, earning over 480,000 total interactions. These posts linked to Trump’s website with voting information and amplified his Facebook posts attacking former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey, praising his supporters, and encouraging people to vote for him.
The Making Web network spent over $180,000 on Meta ads supporting Trump during his 2020 reelection campaign, according to Advance Democracy's analysis of OpenSecrets data. These ads ran on at least five of the network's Facebook pages, with nearly $100,000 spent for ads on “President Donald Trump Fan Club,” which is the network’s top performing Facebook page. The page has shared over 33,500 posts since 2015, earning nearly 104 million total interactions. The network also paid for ads on at least four other pages, with two of these other pages also being among the network’s 10 pages that earned the most total interactions since 2015.
Top 10 Facebook pages in the Making Web network to earn the most total interactions since 2015
Page
Number of posts
Total Interactions
1
President Donald Trump Fan Club
33,572
104.0 million
2
Donald Trump Is My President
26,701
101.5 million
3
Trending Politics
7,460
52.5 million
4
Donald Trump 2020 Voters
7,394
34.1 million
5
President Donald Trump
5,540
21.3 million
6
Jack Murphy
7,337
16.1 million
7
The Proud Republicans
5,918
11.5 million
8
President Trump Has My Vote
5,656
9.4 million
9
I Love My Freedom
3,195
7.9 million
10
Team Trump Fan Club
7,142
7.2 million
Bolded pages ran ads supporting Trump's 2020 reelection campaign
As Trump resumes posting on Facebook, this network is ready to amplify his content, boosting his conspiracy theories and election misinformation as he pursues the White House once again.
