Following a more than two-year suspension following the tragic Capitol Hill brawl on January 6, 2021, YouTube announced on Tuesday that it had removed restrictions on former US President Donald Trump’s channel.
Trump can now reach his combined 146 million followers across the three major tech platforms, giving him access to crucial tools for political financing when he runs for president again in 2024.
“We carefully evaluated the continued risk of real-world violence, while balancing the chance for voters to hear equally from major national candidates in the run-up to an election,” YouTube said in a tweet, referring to the move.
Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) had reinstated Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts earlier this year, while his Twitter account was restored in November by new owner Elon Musk.
An inquiry for comment was not immediately answered by Trump’s campaign staff.
Trump has stuck to his Truth Social platform, the social media platform he founded in late 2021
After Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress started to recognize Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election, the video streaming service banned Trump in 2021 for breaking its policy against encouraging violence.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office is considering filing criminal charges, which Trump and his supporters claim are politically motivated without providing any supporting evidence, and at the same time, Trump is regaining access to social media accounts that he used during the 2016 presidential campaign and during his time in office to lash out at opponents and grow his fan base.
The former president is yet to make a post on the Meta-owned platforms or Twitter. Instead, he has stuck to his Truth Social platform, the social media platform he founded in late 2021, where he has nearly 5 million followers.