More than two years after Donald Trump was banned from social media after Big Tech colluded to make the unprecedented decision to deny a sitting president a voice, the last domino has fallen.
Trump’s YouTube page, which boasts 2.65 million followers, was back under his control Friday after it was permanently disabled in January of 2021.
YouTube, which is owned by struggling Google, confirmed the news to The New York Post.
YouTube public policy vice president Leslie Miller said Trump’s channel “is no longer restricted and the ability to upload new content is restored.”
Miller added, “We carefully evaluated the continued risk of real-world violence, balancing that with the importance of preserving the opportunity for voters to hear equally from major national candidates in the run-up to an election.”
She said Trump’s channel “will continue to be subject to our policies, just like any other channel on YouTube.”
He was banned from YouTube after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol incursion as Big Tech worked in tandem to silence the then-president.
The company said on Jan. 13, 2021, Trump was axed “in light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence.”
As of 12:30 ET, Trump has not posted to the channel or commented on the matter.
The move comes after Elon Musk reinstated Trump to Twitter and after Meta later allowed the former president back on Facebook and Instagram.
Trump has not used either account on either platform since he was reinstated. Given he is running in 2024, he could likely benefit from using the accounts to reach more people as the country struggles under the failed leadership of President Joe Biden.
So far, the country’s 45th president has opted instead to use his own platform, Truth Social.
Oddly, Meta and Google made decisions to bring back Trump during a time when both struggling with revenue and after making the decision to lay off thousands.
Google’s parent company Alphabet announced plans to lay off 12,000 people in January, Business Today reported.
This week, Meta announced 10,000 layoffs of its own, according to The Verge.
Trump was a big draw for users on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube before he was de-platformed.
It is not clear if Trump’s long absence from social media is directly related to the layoffs, which Twitter also experienced.
Related or not, it’s hard to argue that these moves don’t reek of desperation.
Trump’s absence almost certainly did not help the tech sector, as conservatives flocked to alternatives such as Rumble and Truth Social.
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