YouTube will allow creators whose accounts have been suspended for misinformation about COVID-19 and elections to apply for reinstatement

YouTube has announced that it will offer creators who have been suspended based on past policies that have now been repealed the opportunity to have their accounts reinstated. Regarding this matter, a YouTube lawyer stated that 'YouTube was under pressure from the Joe Biden administration.'

YouTube gives creators who spread covid misinformation a chance to return | The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/policy/784238/youtube-covid-election-misinformation-reversal

YouTube creators banned for misinformation can apply for reinstatement
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/23/youtube-creators-banned-covid-election-misinformation-apply-reinstatement.html

In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic reached its peak, YouTube enacted its 'Medical Misinformation Policy' and blocked content promoting conspiracy theories about COVID-19. In 2021, it announced its 'Vaccine Misinformation Policy,' which tightened restrictions on misinformation, including banning content claiming that vaccines approved by health authorities are 'dangerous' or 'ineffective.' These restrictions resulted in the permanent suspension of several creators' accounts.

YouTube bans anti-vaccine content and announces it will remove relevant videos - GIGAZINE

These policies are reviewed regularly, and policies related to COVID-19 were lifted after 2023, as the impact of COVID-19 had waned. YouTube's framework for medical misinformation continues to apply to content related to infectious diseases other than COVID-19, such as influenza and measles.

In 2025, YouTube announced that it would offer creators who are deemed not to have violated its current policies the opportunity to return to YouTube and start new channels. According to YouTube, this will be a limited project aimed at channels that were suspended under its now-repeated policies, as well as some other creators.

We've had a lot of questions about a pathway back to YouTube for some terminated creators to set up a new channel. This will be a limited pilot project that will be available to a subset of creators in addition to those channels terminated for policies that have been deprecated.…

— Updates From YouTube (@UpdatesFromYT) September 23, 2025

In connection with this matter, Daniel Donovan, a lawyer for Alphabet, Google's parent company, submitted a statement to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, providing additional explanation for the announcement.

'We faced pressure from senior Biden administration officials to remove certain COVID-19 related videos that technically did not violate YouTube's policies,' Donovan wrote, adding that the pressure was driven by a 'political atmosphere.' 'It is unacceptable and wrong for any government, including the Biden administration, to attempt to dictate how YouTube moderates content,' Donovan said.

In March 2025, Chairman Jordan subpoenaed Alphabet, demanding documents showing whether YouTube had removed content at the request of the Biden administration. CNBC reported that the subpoena 'comes as Republican pressure on technology companies grows.'

Jordan cited Meta's past admission that it had 'come under pressure from the Biden administration,' saying, 'This is another victory in the fight against censorship.'

This is another victory in the fight against censorship.

In Aug 2024, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote the Committee a letter admitting:

1. Biden Admin “pressured” Facebook to censor Americans.
2. Facebook censored Americans.
3. Facebook throttled the Hunter Biden laptop story.…

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) September 23, 2025