YouTube has reinstated former President Trump’s channel, allowing him to upload videos ahead of the 2024 presidential election, the video company announced Friday.
Many social media sites have banned Trump from their platforms since the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. YouTube cited “concerns about the continued potential for violence” and a violation of its “incitement to violence policy.”
YouTube, which is owned by Google, has acknowledged such threats of violence but wants to give voters a fair chance to hear the major presidential candidates. The move echoed a similar decision by Meta Platforms, which in January allowed Trump to return to Facebook and Instagram. Trump announced his 2024 candidacy in November.
“Starting today, Donald Trump’s channel is no longer restricted and can upload new content,” YouTube said in a statement on Twitter. “We carefully assessed the continued risk of real-world violence while balancing the opportunity for voters to hear equally from key national candidates before the election.”
“This channel will continue to be subject to our policies like any other YouTube channel,” YouTube added.
Shortly after being reinstated, Trump’s channel uploaded a campaign ad titled “I’M BACK.” The site features news footage of Trump speaking to a crowd on election night in 2016. Trump also posted the video on his Facebook page, his first in more than two years.
“I’m sorry to keep you waiting, which makes business difficult,” Trump said in archive footage before the ad appeared on the campaign’s messaging service.
In December, a House committee investigating the events of January 6 recommended that Trump be prosecuted for his role in the riot, in which a mob violently tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Despite this, Trump is considered the frontrunner in the Republican primary race. He has not yet been charged.
Twitter, which also banned Trump after the Jan. 6 uprising, reinstated him in November after new owner and CEO Elon Musk polled users to bring the former POTUS back. Twitter has been Trump’s preferred platform during his presidency. However, the founder of Truth Social has not used his Twitter account since reactivating it; his last tweet was days after the Capitol attack.
After Trump was reinstated on Twitter, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.) responded to Musk’s question by tweeting a video of the attack on the Capitol.
He tweeted that when Trump was last on Twitter, the site was “used to incite a riot, many people died, the Vice President of the United States was almost killed, and hundreds were injured, but I guess that’s not enough for you to answer.” to this question. question. The Twitter poll is.”