Before the US presidential election, Donald Trump will have access to all of his blocked social media accounts. He can now even make money again via YouTube.
The news comes at the right time for Donald Trump. Even before the US presidential election campaign begins, the market-leading video platform YouTube has decided to unblock the ex-president’s channel.
After Twitter and Facebook lifted their restrictions on Donald Trump, he has now regained access to his accounts on all three social media platforms. Twitter, under its new owner Elon Musk, restored the former president’s account back in November. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, unlisted its accounts in February.
Trump’s Facebook, Twitter and Google profiles were blocked as a result of the violent events of January 6, 2021, on the grounds that Trump had fanned the storm on the Capitol and then did not intervene in time. As the president who was voted out, he had spread his lies about millions of electoral fraud through his channels for weeks. The content of his YouTube profile was still accessible, but Trump could no longer upload any new videos. The portal had deleted videos classified as problematic by the Google platform.
YouTube puts voter interests first
YouTube Deputy Public Relations Officer Leslie Miller justified the restoration of Trump’s account on YouTube with a consideration. One is aware of a “permanent risk of violence in the real world”.
However, voters’ interest in having the opportunity “to hear equally from the most important national candidates in the run-up to an election” would weigh more heavily. However, Trump’s channel “remains subject to our policies, just like any other channel on YouTube,” Miller said.
Trump could now advertise
So far it is unclear whether Donald Trump will actually use his restored channel. He has not used his Twitter and Facebook profiles since they were recently unblocked. So far, Trump has continued to use his own social media platform “Truth” almost exclusively to spread his messages. Added to this are the numerous e-mails sent by his campaign team every day.
In order to raise money for his campaign, however, the YouTube channel could become interesting for Trump. After his release, he is also again able to place ads in his uploaded videos and earn money from them. The reach of his channel hasn’t grown since it was blocked. Trump still has around 2.65 million permanent subscribers.
