Taylor Swift makes a subtle social media return after groping lawsuit

Taylor Swift's appearance back into the spotlight is under very different circumstances than expected. No new single or album announcement — the singer recently made headlines after a jury unanimously sided with Swift in an assault and battery lawsuit against a radio DJ who she said groped her.

The New York Times coverage of the trial included an anecdote from a father who attended the conference with his daughter. It's a touching bit of the article that was screenshotted and shared by fans of the singer—and it turns out she appreciated it so much, she broke her social media hiatus to show love. (Swift has been silent on social media for the better part of 2017, only sharing tweets and images from her accounts regarding the Manchester attacks and supporting new music from her friends.)

Using her hardly active Tumblr page, Swift liked a fan's screenshot of the quote, which reads as follows:

"The trial, expected to last nine days, has drawn fans of Ms. Swift. Ed Lee, a 50-year-old graphic artist from Seattle, took time from visiting relatives in Colorado to bring his 10-year-old daughter to a trial he said demonstrates lesson he tries to teach her.“I’ve had many conversations with her as I walk her to school,” Mr. Lee said. “I tell her: ‘You’re an alpha. I want you to know how to pull the claws out when you need them. Because you’re going to need them.’”

This is the first time Swift has used any of her accounts in reference to the case, but who knows now that the snakes have vanished from her accounts. The first step to a full-blown social media return starts with a simple like, as they say.

(No one says that.)