Former US President Donald Trump comments on education as he holds a campaign rally with supporters, in Davenport, Iowa, US March 13, 2023.
Jonathan Ernst Reuters
Google– owned Youtube will allow the account of former President Donald Trump to post new videos on Friday, lifting restrictions imposed after January 6 insurrection in the US Capitol.
The decision means that Trump’s accounts on the three main platforms that were suspended or restricted are now restored, in time for the desired campaign for the 2024 election. Facebook owner Meta and Twitter has both previously decided to restore Trump’s account, after suspending them for fear of inciting more violence.
In 2021, then-YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said Trump’s ban would be lifted when he believed the risk of real-world violence had diminished. The account is not banned from the site, but it cannot upload new videos according to the restriction.
“We carefully assess the risk of continued violence in the real world, balancing the importance of preserving the opportunity for voters to hear equally from the main national candidates during the election,” said YouTube’s VP of Public Policy Leslie Miller in a statement. “This channel will continue to be subject to our policies, just like any other channel on YouTube.”
YouTube said its trust and safety team analyzes factors such as government safety alerts and violent rhetoric on various platforms to determine when the risk of real-world violence has decreased. The company also noted that Trump’s posts on YouTube tend to differ from those on other platforms, often including reposts from news networks.
As of Friday, Trump’s YouTube account had more than 2.6 million subscribers.
Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.
WATCH: Anthony Scaramucci says the US needs stronger leadership and better direction
