(Headline USA) YouTube reinstated former President Donald Trump’s account on Friday, allowing him to return to the platform, upload new content and buy ads for his 2024 presidential campaign.
“Starting today, The Donald J. Trump channel is no longer restricted and the ability to upload new content is restored,” said Leslie Miller, YouTube’s vice president for Public Policy.
Trump has been banned from most social media platforms, including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, since the Jan. 6 Capitol uprising. Twitter, however, restored Trump’s account after Elon Musk took over the company, and Facebook has said it is considering giving him his account back as well.
YouTube said its decision to reinstate Trump came after an in-depth evaluation of the “continued risk of real-world violence” Trump could cause.
“We carefully evaluated the continued risk of real-world violence, balancing that with the importance of preserving the opportunity for voters to hear equally from major national candidates in the run up to an election,” Miller explained. “This channel will continue to be subject to our policies, just like any other channel on YouTube.”
It is unclear, however, whether Trump will make use of his YouTube account again. He has not yet returned to Twitter either, though members of his team have reportedly said that plans for his public return are in the works.
“Trump is probably coming back to Twitter. It’s just a question of how and when,” a source familiar with Trump’s thinking told NBC News. “He’s been talking about it for weeks, but Trump speaks for Trump, so it’s anyone’s guess what he’ll do or say or when.”
Earlier this year, Trump’s campaign petitioned Meta, Facebook’s parent company, to unblock his account.
“We believe that the ban on President Trump’s account on Facebook has dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse,” Trump’s team wrote, adding that the former president would be happy to host a “meeting to discuss President Trump’s prompt reinstatement to the platform.”
