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YouTube has opened up a "second chance" program to allow previously banned creators spreading misinformation about COVID and elections to create new channels, after facing pressure from Republican political leaders.
Key Background
YouTube launched a campaign in 2020 to remove videos and ban creators it deemed spread election and vaccine misinformation. The platform also gave strikes to channels spreading misinformation on the 2020 election, suspending President Donald Trump from making new uploads to his channel. In 2023, the platform removed all the restrictions on the president's account and dropped some of its misinformation policies. In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, Alphabet's lawyers claimed the Biden administration pressured the company to remove content relating to COVID-19, even when it did not violate Alphabet's policies.
Tangent
Alphabet has been dealing with repeated pressure from the Trump administration in the form of antitrust lawsuits from the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission. Last month, YouTube agreed to pay $24.25 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Trump in 2021 over the ban on his account for "content moderation" decisions surrounding the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, with $22 million going toward the construction of a White House ballroom.