YouTube lifts ban on Trump's account

YouTube is lifting its ban on former President Donald Trump's account, the platform announced Friday.

Previously, his account was blocked from posting new videos.

"Starting today, the Donald J. Trump channel is no longer restricted and can upload new content," said the YouTube Insider account. "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."

"This channel will continue to be subject to our policies, just like any other channel on YouTube," the post continued.

Trump was blocked from posting on a number of major social media platforms following his role in inciting the attack on the U.S. Capitol, as he was leaving office. Prior to that, social platforms had often faced calls to sanction him when he posted violent content, but generally left him free to continue posting, on the grounds he was an important political figure and the need for him to disseminate information outweighed other concerns.

Twitter allowed him back onto its site last year, following tech billionaire Elon Musk's takeover of the platform. Soon after that, Meta allowed him back on Facebook and Instagram, a decision they had deferred to this year after previous debate, with some caveats that there would be "guardrails" in place to prevent abuse of the platform.