YouTube on Friday reinstated former President Donald Trump’s channel, more than two years after suspending the channel for inciting violence.
“Starting today, Donald J. Trump’s channel is no longer restricted and can upload new content,” the video streaming company said said. “We carefully assess the risk of continued violence in the real world, while balancing the chance for voters to hear equally from the main national candidates during the election.”
The company said Trump’s channel will be subject to YouTube’s “just like any other channel” policy.
Trump’s YouTube channel currently has over 2.6 million subscribers.
While Trump’s campaign will be happy to use the streaming service, YouTube’s decision also has its own benefits, as Trump can now buy and run campaign ads on the platform. Flagged accounts are banned from running ads.
Trump spent nearly $130 million on Google ads during the 2020 election, according to data tracked by OpenSecrets. He has announced his intention to seek re-election next year.
Trump’s latest YouTube video, uploaded on December 2, 2020, features him delivering his now-familiar 46-minute screed about “tremendous voter fraud” during the “extremely long” election that would have been lost months earlier.
A month after posting the video, Trump used social media to incite a riot at the US Capitol, seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Five police officers died in the violence, and 140 others were injured.
Twitter, Facebook and YouTube all responded by suspending various Trump accounts, citing the risk that he would continue to use them for violent purposes.
Twitter restored Trump’s account in November 2022, after Elon Musk bought the platform – although the former president has not tweeted anything new, perhaps not wanting to damage the struggling social network, Truth Social.
Facebook and Instagram also hit back at Trump afterward.