Former US President Donald Trump’s YouTube channel is no longer restricted and can now upload new content, according to a statement released by the video-sharing platform. This decision follows similar moves made by Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, as well as Elon Musk-owned Twitter.
Back in January 2021, YouTube banned Mr Trump from posting videos on its platform, citing that his channel had violated its rules on incitement of violence. However, YouTube recently announced that his account is now back online.
The decision was made after YouTube carefully evaluated the risk of real-world violence while ensuring that major national candidates had equal opportunities to communicate with their voters in the lead-up to an election. Although his channel is no longer restricted, it will continue to be subject to YouTube’s policies, just like any other channel on the platform.
The move comes after Mr Trump’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts were suspended following the storming of the US Capitol by his supporters on 6 January 2021. YouTube followed suit shortly after and banned Mr Trump from posting videos on its platform.
Several months later, Mr Trump launched his own social media platform, Truth Social. However, in 2022, he announced that he would run for the US presidency in 2024, and since then, his accounts on all of these platforms have returned.
Mr Trump has a massive following on social media platforms, including more than 2.6 million subscribers on YouTube, 87 million followers on Twitter, 34 million on Facebook, and 23 million on Instagram. Nevertheless, there is no guarantee that he will return to posting videos on YouTube.
Despite the lifting of the ban, it remains to be seen how Mr Trump will leverage his social media accounts to communicate with his followers and supporters. In the meantime, he has posted a short video clip of his 2016 victory speech on Facebook, signalling his return to the platform after more than two years with a simple message that says “I’M BACK!”
