Former US president Donald Trump will be allowed back on the video-sharing platform, YouTube. However, this is only when the threat of possible violence subsides, the head of the platform said Thursday.
YouTube, alongside a majority of social media platforms, suspended Trump’s channel, in late January following the January 6 Capitol insurrection that claimed one life.
“We will lift the suspension of the Donald Trump channel when we determine that the risk of violence has decreased,” YouTube chief Susan Wojcicki said during a streamed Atlantic Council interview,” Wojcicki said.
“Given just the warnings by the Capitol Police yesterday about a potential attack today, I think it is pretty clear that that elevated violence risk still remains.”
Wojcicki said that when the Trump channel is eventually restored, it will remain subject to the same “three-strike” system as everyone else at YouTube.
Uploading videos that break YouTube rules such as those against inciting violence or falsely attacking election integrity would earn the channel more strikes and suspensions.
Channels that get three strikes within a 90-day period are removed from YouTube, Wojcicki noted.
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“This was the first strike,” she said of the Trump channel.
“We have applied strikes to other world leaders; (Jair) Bolsonaro in Brazil for Covid-19 misinformation, channels were taken down now in Myanmar.”
According to the social media giant, the factors that will determine whether it is safe to allow Trump back on YouTube will include online rhetoric along with concerns expressed by police departments and government agencies regarding risks of politically fueled violence.
Wojcicki said that it was important for prominent leaders to be held to the same standards as regular users on the platform, reasoning that it is “a very dangerous path to say some people have a free pass” when it comes to breaking content rules.
The Google-owned firm has, in the past, faced criticism firstly over its slow response following the violence in Washington, and secondly, concerning the proliferation of conspiracy theories on the platform.
Trump has also been banned from other online platforms including Twitter and Facebook. Twitter has said that the president will remain banned from the platform, even if he were to run for office again and win.
An independent board created by Facebook is reviewing the decision by the leading social network.
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