YouTube suspended former President Donald J. Trump’s account on the platform six days after the January 6 attack on the Capitol. The video platform said it was concerned that Trump’s lies about the 2020 election could lead to more violence in the real world.
YouTube, which is owned by Google, reversed that decision on Friday and allowed Trump to re-upload videos to the popular site. The move came after similar decisions by Twitter and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.
“We carefully assess the continued risk of violence in the real world, while balancing the chance that major national candidates will be heard equally by voters in the run-up to an election,” YouTube said on Twitter on Friday. Mr. Trump’s account will need to abide by the site’s content rules like any other account, YouTube added.
After false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen circulated online and helped fuel the January 6 attack, the social media giants suspended Trump’s account privileges. Two years later, the platforms began to loosen their content rules. Under the ownership of Elon Musk, Twitter has canceled many of its content moderation efforts. YouTube recently laid off members of its trust and security team, leaving a person in charge of setting political disinformation policies.
Trump announced in November that he was seeking a second term as president, prompting deliberations at social media companies about whether to allow him back on their platforms. Days later, Musk polled Twitter users on whether he should reinstate Trump, and 52 percent of those polled said yes. Like YouTube, Meta said in January that it was important for people to hear what political candidates are saying ahead of the election.
The reinstatement of the former president is one of the first major content decisions YouTube has made under its new chief executive, Neal Mohan, who took over last month. YouTube also recently loosened its blasphemy rules so that creators who used profanity at the beginning of a video could still make money from the content.
YouTube’s announcement on Friday echoes a pattern in which the company and its parent Google make polarized content decisions after a competitor has already taken the same action. YouTube followed Meta and Twitter in suspending Trump after the attack on the Capitol and reversing the bans.
Since losing his 2020 re-election bid, Trump has sought to make a success of his own social media service, Truth Social, known for its lax content moderation rules.
On Friday, Trump posted on his Facebook page for the first time since his reinstatement. “NOW I’M BACK!” Trump wrote, along with a video in which he said: “I’m sorry I kept you waiting. complicated business. Complicated.”
Despite his reinstatement to Twitter, Trump has not posted from that account again.
In his last tweet, dated January 8, 2021, he said he would not attend the next inauguration, which will take place at the Capitol.
