No.New York () — YouTube said Friday it would restore former President Donald Trump’s channel, more than two years after suspending it following the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol.
The move follows similar actions by Twitter and Facebook in recent months, though Trump has yet to resume posting on those platforms.
“We carefully assess the continued risk of violence in the real world, while balancing the likelihood that major national candidates will be heard equally by voters in the run-up to an election,” YouTube said in a statement on Friday.
A representative for Trump did not immediately respond to ‘s request for comment. Axios first reported the restoration of the channel.
YouTube initially suspended Trump’s channel following the Capitol Hill riots, alleging that a video from the channel had violated its policy against incitement to violence. Since then, Trump’s account had been blocked from uploading new videos or live broadcasts.
YouTube had also disabled comments under the Trump channel’s videos, which appear to have been restored on Friday. Immediately after his account was reinstated, several users began posting “welcome back” comments under old videos.
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Although YouTube was never Trump’s main social platform, the reactivation of his channel will give him back access to the massive video streaming platform, where his account has more than 2.6 million subscribers.
As more platforms restore Trump’s account, some are also stressing that he continues to face restrictions on what he can post, with the possibility of being suspended again.
YouTube said in its statement that Trump’s “channel will continue to be subject to our policies, just like any other channel on YouTube.” YouTube has a suspension policy under which users may receive staggered suspensions based on the number and severity of their violations.
Meanwhile, Meta said last month that it had put new controls in place on Trump’s account that could result in him being suspended again if he breaks company rules.
