A few weeks ago, Google told U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) that it would allow creators banned for COVID and election misinformation to post return to platform. There were no details in the letter, but YouTube now has explained the recovery process. YouTube's “second chances” are actually more extensive than the letter suggests. In the future, almost anyone who has been banned from YouTube will be able to request a new channel. The company doesn't guarantee approval, but you can expect a lot of banned creators to return to Google's video platform in the coming months.
YouTube will now allow a banned creator to request reinstatement, but this is not related to appealing the ban. If a channel is blocked, creators still have the opportunity to appeal the ban. If successful, their channel returns as if nothing happened. In a year, the creators will have the opportunity for a “second chance.”
“We know that many fired creators deserve a second chance,” the blog post said, noting that YouTube itself doesn’t always get things right the first time. The ability to create a new channel is coming to YouTube Studio on desktop, and Google plans to start sending out these notifications in the coming months. However, those fired for copyright infringement are out of luck: Google doesn't forgive such violations as easily as it claims COVID is a hoax.
The readmission process will still be reviewed by YouTube staff, and the company says it will consider a variety of factors, including whether the behavior that led to the channel being suspended is against the rules. This is clearly a reference to misinformation about COVID and the election, which Google banned from YouTube for several years but has since stopped policing. The site will also consider factors such as how severe or persistent the violations were and “whether the creator's actions have caused harm or are likely to continue to cause harm to the YouTube community.”
