YouTube announced today that former President Donald Trump’s YouTube channel will no longer be suspended. The account had been restricted in the week after the January 2021 riot at the US Capitol building. Following the lead of platforms like Twitter and Facebook, YouTube said at the time that Trump’s social media accounts could be used to incite more violence.
Now, as the former president prepares for his 2024 presidential run, YouTube has changed course.
“As of today, Donald J. Trump’s channel is no longer restricted and you can upload new content,” YouTube wrote in a post. cheep. “We carefully assess the continued risk of violence in the real world, while balancing the possibility that voters will hear equally from major national candidates in the run-up to an election.”
The reinstated account has 2.64 million subscribers and more than four thousand videos. YouTube’s decision could have further implications if the Trump campaign is allowed to run ads on YouTube; In 2020, his campaign spent more than $10 million on digital ads in battleground states.
In November, Twitter owner Elon Musk used a one-day poll to decide whether to reinstate Trump’s account. With the vote in favor of 51.8% of the users, he reformulated the former president, who has not yet used his rehabilitated account. Facebook also revoked Trump’s ban: he hasn’t posted there either, as good as his word.
Since losing his 2020 re-election campaign, the former president has created his own media company, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which bills itself as “cancel cancel culture” and “tackling big tech.” ”. The company’s social media app, Truth Social, launched 13 months ago.
Trump’s ties to his own tech company could explain his silence on major social media. Last year, a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission regarding TMTG’s intention to go public via the SPAC revealed that Trump has contractual obligations to Truth Social with respect to his posts. When Trump posts a “truth” on Truth Social, he can’t repost it on any other social network for six hours.
TMTG has not yet been made public.
