YouTube lifted its restrictions on former US President Donald Trump’s channel on Friday. As of March 17, Trump’s YouTube channel “is no longer restricted (…) and the ability to upload new content is restored,” confirmed YouTube’s Vice President for Public Policy, Leslie Miller, the US news portal Axios. “We have carefully assessed the ongoing risk of violence in the real world, while weighing the importance of giving voters an opportunity to hear equally from key national candidates in the run-up to an election,” Miller said. Trump can now buy ads for election campaigns on YouTube again.
For more than two years, Trump has not been able to post any new content on his YouTube channel, which has more than 2.6 million subscribers – his account was suspended in January 2021. Shortly after the US Capitol was stormed, YouTube was the last major Internet platform to take stricter measures against the account of the then-incumbent US President due to “concerns about the continuing potential for violence”. The comment function has also been deactivated indefinitely.
Twitter, Facebook and Co.
Twitter and Facebook had previously blocked Trump’s respective accounts. In the meantime, Meta Trump has also returned his accounts on Instagram and Facebook. After Elon Musk took over Twitter, Trump regained his Twitter account. However, it is unclear whether Trump will use his YouTube channel. So far, he has not posted any content on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. He is active on his own social media platform Truth Social, which he launched in 2021, even if he has significantly fewer subscribers there.
(mack)
