YouTube to reinstate accounts banned for misinformation

YouTube says it “values conservative voices” and claims it was “pressed” by the Joe Biden administration to moderate content on COVID-19 and other issues.

Creators who were barred from the world’s largest video platform for spreading false information, such as claims that COVID-19 vaccines can cause cancer or that the 2020 US presidential election was “stolen” from Donald Trump, will now be allowed to return.

According to a letter sent by YouTube’s parent company Alphabet to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the move reflects “a wider range of content” now allowed by the platform’s Community Guidelines.

“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if the Company terminated their channels for repeated violations of COVID-19 and elections integrity policies that are no longer in effect,” said the letter, signed by Alphabet’s legal counsel Daniel F. Donovan.

The letter was YouTube’s response to a subpoena from Rep. Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which is investigating how the Biden administration “coerced or colluded” with companies, including Alphabet, to censor speech.

In the subpoena, the Committee said it had documents showing that the federal government pressured YouTube to censor lawful content, even when it didn’t violate its moderation policies.

The platform told Rep. Jordan that it had indeed experienced repeated pressure from Biden’s White House.

“Senior Biden Administration officials, including White House officials, conducted repeated and sustained outreach to Alphabet and pressed the Company regarding certain user-generated content related to the COVID-19 pandemic that did not violate its policies,” the letter said.

It said that Biden’s administration, including the former president himself, “created a political atmosphere that sought to influence the actions of platforms based on their concerns regarding misinformation.”

Other large online platforms, including Facebook and what was at the time Twitter, enacted policies banning the spread of medical or election misinformation, but loosened their stances once it became clear Trump was on track to win his second term in 2024.

As a result, YouTube first reinstated Trump’s account, which had been removed following the January 6th riots, and later restored the account of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who now serves as US Secretary of Health and Human Services.

YouTube said it wanted to "give creators a chance to learn from their mistakes," adding that its other policies would still apply as usual.

Who censors whom?

In the letter, Alphabet also criticized the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which are aimed at regulating the big technology firms in the bloc but have been attacked by President Trump as unfair and discriminatory toward American companies.

Alphabet warned that these laws may stifle innovation and restrict access to information, while also claiming that they place a “disproportionate” burden on American companies. The EU has previously dismissed such claims and said it had a “sovereign right” to regulate economic activity on its own territory.

Alphabet, which also owns Google, is among American companies being investigated under the DMA, along with Apple and Meta. Meanwhile, X, formerly Twitter, is subject to a probe under the DSA, as are Meta’s Instagram and Facebook social platforms.

Concerns about free speech in the EU and under Biden's administration come amid growing censorship fears under Trump’s rule, as the president openly threatens to revoke licenses of broadcasters that are critical of him.