YouTube’s parent company Alphabet announced Tuesday it’s allowing creators who received permanent bans over misinformation relating to COVID-19 and the 2020 election to apply to be reinstated. This likely includes Robert F. Kennedy Jr and Steve Bannon.
As CNBC reports, Alphabet referred to the new policy as a limited pilot program made available to a “subset of creators” who might be allowed back, along with those who violated policies that have since been revised.
As CBS News reports, the decision comes after the company began loosening its content moderation standards in 2023 surrounding election conspiracies, most notably the 2020 election. In 2024, the company eliminated its dedicated COVID-19 content restrictions, allowing discussions of unproven treatments on the platform.
Attorneys for Alphabet wrote in response to subpoenas from the House Judiciary Committee that the new policy honors free speech and the company “values conservative voices,” which it says were censored by the Biden administration.
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
“No matter the political atmosphere, YouTube will continue to enable free expression on its platform, particularly as it relates to issues subject to political debate," the letter reads, per CBS. “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if the Company terminated their channels for repeated violations of COVID-19 and elections integrity policies that are no longer in effect.”
“YouTube values conservative voices on its platform and recognizes that these creators have extensive reach and play an important role in civic discourse,” the letter states, per CNN.
The letter also accuses the Biden administration of coercing the company into banning nefarious accounts, via CNN. “As online platforms, including Alphabet, grappled with these decisions, the Administration’s officials, including President Biden, created a political atmosphere that sought to influence the actions of platforms based on their concerns regarding misinformation,” the letter states. “It is unacceptable and wrong when any government, including the Biden Administration, attempts to dictate how the Company moderates content.”
As CNBC notes, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino could potentially be reinstated on the platform.
As cybersecurity expert Yael Eisenstat tells CBS in the above clip, it’s really more about Alphabet’s bottom line than free speech.
Image: Cheng Xin/Getty Images
