The restrictions on posting new videos on YouTube will be lifted after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The decision means that Trump's accounts on three major platforms that he was suspended or restricted are now restored in time for his expected campaign for the 2024 election. After suspending them for fear that he would cause more violence, Meta and Twitter decided to reinstate Trump's accounts.
In 2021, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said that Trump's restrictions would be lifted when it believed the risk of real-world violence had subsided. The account was not terminated from the site, but could not upload new videos under the restrictions.
The VP of Public Policy Leslie Miller said that the continued risk of real-world violence was carefully weighed with the importance of preserving the opportunity for voters to hear equally from major national candidates in the run up to an election. This channel will continue to be subject to our policies, like any other channel on YouTube. YouTube said its trust and safety teams analyzed factors like government security alerts and violent rhetoric to determine when the risk of real-world violence had decreased. The company also noted that Trump's posts on YouTube tend to differ from those on other platforms, often including reuploads from news networks.