YouTube announced on Thursday that creators whose channels were previously terminated will be able to request new accounts.
“We know many terminated creators deserve a second chance – YouTube has evolved and changed over the past 20 years, and we’ve had our share of second chances to get things right with our community too,” YouTube wrote in the blog post.
This change in policy, which YouTube is calling a “pilot,” didn’t come out of nowhere. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) had subpoenaed YouTube’s parent company, Alphabet, to investigate if the Biden-Harris administration had “coerced or colluded” platforms into censoring speech. Last month, Alphabet’s legal counsel, Daniel F. Donovan, wrote in a letter to Rep. Jordan that the company would allow some terminated creators to come back.
While YouTube does not explicitly reference its COVID-19 or election integrity policies in its blog post, Alphabet’s letter makes it clear that these policies are top of mind.
“Reflecting the Company’s commitment to free expression, YouTube will provide an opportunity for all creators to rejoin the platform if the Company terminated their channels for repeated violations of COVID-19 and elections integrity policies that are no longer in effect,” Alphabet’s letter says. “YouTube values conservative voices on its platform and recognizes that these creators have extensive reach and play an important role in civic discourse.”
