After more than two years, YouTube has lifted its ban on Donald Trump, the twice-impeached former president of the United States who was removed from most major internet platforms following the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“Starting today, the Donald J. Trump channel is no longer restricted and can upload new content,” YouTube said in a statement Friday. “We carefully evaluated the continued risk of real-world violence, while balancing the chance for voters to hear equally from major national candidates in the run up to an election.”
YouTube added that Trump’s “channel will continue to be subject to our policies, just like any other channel on YouTube.”
Trump is running for the Republican nomination to be the next president of the United States in 2024, despite his repeated and false claims that he won the 2020 election. Trump’s YouTube channel was suspended indefinitely on January 12, 2021, after YouTube determined that it had broken its rules against inciting violence. Nearly a week after he praised and incited a crowd of supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol in an effort to obstruct President Biden’s election victory certification, YouTube suspended the former president’s channel.
