YouTube CEO says will lift suspension on Trump’s channel when ‘we determine the risk of violence has decreased’

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is claiming the suspension on Donald Trump’s channel will be lifted, but at the moment the “risk of violence” is too great.

In a Thursday discussion with the NATO-backed Atlantic Council think tank, Wojcicki was directly asked about the details behind Trump’s suspension from the video platform. YouTube was one of numerous platforms to suspend the former president following the January 6 Capitol riot, which he was accused by the House of inciting.

Wojcicki claims the ban is not permanent and Trump’s channel will be turned back on “when we determine the risk of violence has decreased,” though she provided no timeline for when this will happen. 

The measurement for this “risk of violence” hints the account could be suspended for quite some time as Wojcicki says there remains an “elevated risk” of the channel inciting violence based on “violent rhetoric” on the platform and “increased law enforcement” across the country, especially in Washington, DC following the riot.

“We will turn the account back on but it will be when we see the reduced enforcement in Capitols in the US,” she said, adding that a decrease in “different warnings” of violence from the government will be another sign.

“It's pretty clear that where we stand there is still that elevated risk of violence,” she said. 

She warned that when “the channel is reinstated,” it will be “subject to the same policies.”

These suspension policies include a three strike policy. The first strike is a suspension for seven days and three strikes within 90 days result in an official ban. 

Trump’s channel, however, was on its first strike previously, but was suspended due to the “risk of violence.” Wojcicki did say though that certain videos were removed from Trump’s channel before the decision was made to suspend him.

Wojcicki also touched on YouTube getting more aggressive in its policing of videos recently, revealing over nine million were taken down in the last quarter, 90 percent being banned by an automated system used by the company. 

One such video removed by YouTube was Trump’s speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), first from RT’s channel and then numerous others. RT and its German-language channel RT DE were informed by YouTube the flagging was a “strike” under their rules on “supporting the 2020 US presidential election.”

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