Video streaming platform says the decision aims to allow voters to hear equally from candidates ahead of the 2024 ballot.
YouTube has lifted restrictions on Donald Trump’s channel, making it the latest social media network to fully reinstate the former president of the United States’ account, more than two years after his supporters violently stormed the Capitol.
The decision on Friday comes as the race for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election begins to heat up with Trump, who has officially announced his candidacy, regularly firing at would-be rivals.
“We have carefully evaluated the ongoing risk of violence in the real world as we weigh the chance for voters to hear directly from major national candidates ahead of an election,” Google-owned YouTube said in a tweet. on Friday.
After a right-wing mob attacked the US Capitol in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021 to prevent the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory, several social media networks have restricted or banned Trump’s accounts.
Critics of the president have accused him of inciting violence, including through social media posts in which he made false allegations of electoral fraud.
In recent months, social media companies — including Twitter and Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram — have restored the former president’s accounts. But Trump has not returned to these websites. Instead, he communicates with supporters through his own platform, Truth Social.
As president, Trump’s social media posts — especially on Twitter — constantly sparked controversy and, at times, sparked international diplomatic crises.
Twitter “permanently suspended” Trump’s account following the Jan. 6 riots, but the platform reversed the decision after being acquired by billionaire Elon Musk.
“I stick to the Truth. I like it more, I like the way it works, I like Elon, but I’m sticking with Truth,” he told Fox News last year.
The former president still claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” — a claim he repeats regularly on Truth Social.
In December, a Democratic-led congressional panel investigating the attack on the Capitol recommended criminal charges against the former president.
A Justice Department special prosecutor is investigating Trump for his role in the riot and possible misuse of classified information in a separate investigation.
As he gears up for the 2024 primary, Trump also faces several state-led investigations into his campaign conduct, attempts to overturn the 2024 election, and private trade practices.
Trump denies wrongdoing in all cases and accuses prosecutors of arming the justice system against him for political purposes.
“THE FAKE INVESTIGATIONS BY RADICAL-LEFT DEMOCRATIC PROECTERS ARE NOTHING BETWEEN ELECTION IN THE POLITICS OF A FAILING NATION,” he wrote on Truth Social on Thursday.