Former President Trump’s YouTube account has been restored after two years of suspension. He had been restricted from posting videos ever since the protests occurred at the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021.
On that day, YouTube along with other social media companies said that he had incited violence.
But Trump’s account is “no longer restricted and the ability to upload new content is restored,” YouTube Vice President of Public Policy Leslie Miller said in a statement.
“We carefully evaluated the continued risk of real-world violence, balancing that with the importance of preserving the opportunity for voters to hear equally from major national candidates in the run up to an election,” Miller commented. “This channel will continue to be subject to our policies, just like any other channel on YouTube.”
YouTube is a subsidiary of Google and it will not restore videos on Trump’s account that had been removed form the platform after January 6.
The former president is now a candidate again for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, and the campaign will now be permitted to buy YouTube advertisements.
Meta, the company that controls Facebook and Instagram, has also lifted previous suspensions on Trump. They said that the penalty imposed after January 6 was “an extraordinary decision taken in extraordinary circumstances.” They also promised to enforce “certain guardrails” on Trump in the future.
Meta said that Trump faces “heightened penalties for repeat offenses” for past behavior on the platforms, which will also “apply to other public figures whose accounts are reinstated from suspensions related to civil unrest under our updated protocol.”
Elon Musk, the new CEO of Twitter also reinstated Trump on the platform at the end of last year after he surveyed his followers.
“I hope Elon buys Twitter because he’ll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on Truth,” Trump previously commented. “The bottom line is, no, I am not going back to Twitter.”
