YouTube restores Donald Trump’s channel | CNN Business

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YouTube said Friday it would restore former President Donald Trump’s channel, more than two years after suspending it following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The move follows similar actions by Twitter and Facebook parent Meta in recent months, although Trump has yet to resume posting on those platforms. It also comes after Trump announced last fall that he would run for president again in 2024.

“We carefully assessed the continued risk of real-world violence while balancing the possibility that voters would listen equally to the leading national candidates heading into the election,” YouTube said in a statement. tweet Friday.

A representative for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNN. Axios first reported the channel’s restoration.

YouTube initially suspended Trump’s channel after the Capitol riot, saying a video on the channel had violated its policy against incitement to violence. Since then, Trump’s account had been blocked from uploading new videos or live streams.

YouTube had also disabled comments below videos on Trump’s channel, which appeared to have been restored on Friday. Immediately after restoring their account, several users started posting “welcome back” comments on old videos.

While YouTube was never Trump’s primary social platform, reviving his channel will restore his access to the massive video streaming platform, where his account has more than 2.6 million subscribers.

As more platforms restore Trump’s account, some also point out that he continues to face restrictions on what he can post, with the possibility of being suspended again.

YouTube said in its statement that Trump’s channel “will continue to be subject to our policies, just like any other YouTube channel.” YouTube operates a strike policy whereby users may receive escalating suspensions based on the number and severity of their violations.

Meanwhile, Meta said last month it had implemented new guardrails on Trump’s account that could lead to suspension again if he breaks company rules.

For now, the former president has continued to post only on his own platform, Truth Social, which he launched after being suspended from more mainstream options. Trump posted a series of six videos on Truth Social on Friday morning, including several repeating false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged.