YouTube restores Donald Trump’s channel


NY
CNN

YouTube on Friday said it would restore former President Donald Trump’s channel in more than two years. suspension it follows the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

The move follows a similar actions Twitter and Facebook parent Meta in recent months, though Trump has yet to resume posting on those platforms. It also comes after Trump announced last fall, he ran again for president in 2024.

“We have carefully assessed the continued risk of real-world violence, balancing the chances of voters to hear equally from major national candidates in the run-up to the election,” YouTube said in a statement. tweet Friday

A spokesman for Trump did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment. Channel restoration was first reported according to Axios.

YouTube initially blocked Trump’s channel in the aftermath of the Capitol riots, saying the channel’s video violated his anti-violence policy. Trump’s account has since been banned from uploading new videos or live streams.

YouTube also disabled comments under videos on Trump’s channel, which appear to have been reinstated on Friday. Immediately after his account was restored, a number of users began posting “welcome back” comments under the old videos.

While YouTube has never been Trump’s main social platform, reactivating his channel will restore his access to the huge video streaming platform, where his account has more than 2.6 million subscribers.

As more platforms recover Trump’s account, some are also highlighting that he still faces restrictions on what he can post and could be banned again.

YouTube said in a statement that “Trump’s channel will continue to be subject to our policies, just like any other channel on YouTube.” YouTube has a strike policy in place where users can receive stricter bans based on the number and severity of their violations.

Meanwhile, Meta said last month that it had imposed new restrictions on Trump’s account that could result in him being banned again if he violates company rules.

For now, the former president continues to post only on his own Truth Social platform, which was launched after he was sidelined from more popular options. On Friday morning, Trump posted a series of six videos on Truth Social, including several that repeated false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.