Former US President Donald Trump speaks on education at a campaign rally with his supporters March 13, 2023 in Davenport, Iowa, USA.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Google– owned Youtube will allow former President Donald Trump’s account to post new videos as of Friday, lifting restrictions imposed following the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.
The decision means Trump’s accounts on three major platforms where he has been suspended or restricted have been restored in time for the upcoming 2024 election. Facebook owner meta Twitter had previously decided to reinstate Trump’s account after suspending it for fear he would incite further violence.
In 2021, then-YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki Said Trump’s restrictions will be lifted when he believes the risk of real-world violence has decreased.
Leslie Miller, YouTube’s vice president of public policy, said: “We will carefully assess the ongoing risks of real-world violence and give voters an equal opportunity to hear from key candidates heading into the election. We have struck a balance with the importance of maintaining,” he said in a statement. “This channel will continue to be subject to our policies, just like any other channel on YouTube.”
According to YouTube, YouTube’s Trust and Safety team analyzed factors such as government security alerts and violent rhetoric on various platforms to determine when the risk of real-world violence decreased. The company also noted that Trump’s posts on YouTube tend to differ from posts on other platforms, including re-uploads from news networks.
As of Friday, Trump’s YouTube account has over 2.6 million subscribers.
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