Former President Donald Trump’s YouTube channel will remain suspended, the online video platform said Tuesday.
YouTube suspended Trump’s official channel on Jan. 12 from uploading new content for at least a week, at the time citing the potential for violence following the deadly Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol.
“In light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, the Donald J. Trump channel will remain suspended,” YouTube said in a statement to USA TODAY. “Our teams are staying vigilant and closely monitoring for any new developments.”
The suspension prevents the uploading of new videos or livestreams to the channel. Comments on the channel, which has nearly 2.8 million subscribers, are also disabled indefinitely.
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At the time it suspended Trump’s channel, YouTube removed a video in which the president told reporters that impeaching him for inciting violence at the Capitol would be “very dangerous for the USA.”
Before YouTube suspended Trump’s channel, Facebook and Instagram, along with Twitter and Snap had already blocked Trump in the aftermath of the Capitol riots. Facebook blocked Trump indefinitely from the platforms with CEO Mark Zuckerberg saying at the time, “We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great.”
Last week, Facebook sent to its Oversight Board the issue to restore former President Trump’s access to his accounts. The board has 90 days to render a decision, but is expected to do so more quickly.
Twitter permanently banned Trump on Jan. 8, “due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” the company said.
YouTube also removed the channel of Rudy Giuliani, a personal lawyer for the former president, from its Partner Program. The temporary suspension means Giuliani will be unable to monetize the channel, according to YouTube.
The site’s policies prevent channels from making money – such as revenue from advertisements – on content about controversial issues, sensitive events and harmful and dangerous acts. And more recently, YouTube has said it will remove content that alleges widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
Suspended channels can appeal or reapply to rejoin the program in 30 days, if the underlying issues that led to suspension have been addressed, YouTube says.
Previously, YouTube removed a video podcast from Giuliani’s channel Giuliani in which he suggested the events of the day and the Capitol riot were orchestrated to make President Trump look bad.
Contributing: Jessica Guynn, Kelly Tyko
Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.
2021-01-26 14:08:45
