YouTube opens ‘second chance’ program to creators banned for misinformation

YouTube is now giving some creators who were banned for spreading covid and election misinformation a chance to make a new channel, according to a blog post. Under political pressure, the company had said last month that it was going to set up this pilot program for “a subset of creators” and “channels terminated for policies that have been deprecated.” YouTube said in a letter to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), whose congressional commission issued multiple subpoenas to the company, that the opportunity would be available to creators banned for “repeated violations of COVID-19 and elections integrity policies that are no longer in effect.”

“YouTube continues to enable a diversity of perspectives and believes creators should be able to openly debate political ideas on the platform,” the company said in its letter to Rep. Jordan.

Last month, YouTube also said it would pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump in 2021 over the ban. $22 million of the settlement is set to be used to help build a new White House ballroom. Its parent company, Alphabet, had lawyers in court earlier this month defending its Google ad-tech monopoly against Trump’s Department of Justice.

The new pilot program kicks off today and will roll out to “eligible creators” over the “next several weeks,” YouTube says. “We’ll consider several factors when evaluating requests for new channels, like whether the creator committed particularly severe or persistent violations of our Community Guidelines or Terms of Service, or whether the creator’s on- or off-platform activity harmed or may continue to harm the YouTube community.”

The pilot won’t be available if you were banned for copyright infringement or for violating YouTube’s Creator Responsibility policies, the company says. If you deleted your YouTube channel or Google account, you won’t be able to request a new channel “at this time.” And YouTube notes that if your channel has been banned, you won’t be eligible to apply for a new one until one year after it was terminated.

“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 says. “Our goal is to roll this out to creators who are eligible to apply over the coming months, and we appreciate the patience as we ramp up, carefully review requests, and learn as we go.”