Youtubeowned by Alphabet Inc, said Tuesday it had lifted restrictions on the former US president’s channel. donald trumpfollowing a suspension of more than two years after the deadly riots at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Meta Platforms Inc reinstated Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts earlier this year, while his Twitter account was restored in November by its new owner Elon Musk.
“We carefully assess the continued risk of violence in the real world, while balancing the opportunity for voters to hear equally from major national candidates in the run-up to an election,” he said. Youtube in a tweet, referring to the measure.
The video streaming platform had banned Trump in 2021 for violating its policy of inciting violence, after his supporters stormed the United States Capitol as Congress began to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election. .
Social media has been a key vehicle for reaching voters and raising funds and could give a boost to Trump, who will run for president again in 2024. Trump has more than 2.6 million YouTube subscribers, another 34 million followers on Facebook and 23 million on Instagram.
However, the former president has not yet published anything on the platforms owned by Meta or on Twitter. In his place, he has stuck to his Truth Social platform, the social network he founded in late 2021, where he has almost 5 million followers.
Opponents of Trump’s return point to the messages he has posted on Truth Social as proof that he continues to pose the same risk that led various social media platforms to suspend him in the first place.
