YouTube Brings Back Creators Banned for COVID-19, Election Content

Published: September 26, 2025

By Michaela Gordoni

YouTube will bring back creators who were previously banned for COVID-19 and election-related content.

“Reflecting the Company’s commitment to free expression, 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if the Company terminated their channels for repeated violations of COVID-19 and elections integrity policies that are no longer in effect,” the company said in a letter on Tuesday to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

Steve Bannon, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino and White House counterterrorism chief Sebastian Gorka were some of the banned content creators, The Hill reported.

“YouTube values conservative voices on its platform and recognizes that these creators have extensive reach and play an important role in civic discourse,” it said. “The Company recognizes these creators are among those shaping today’s online consumption, landing ‘must-watch’ interviews, giving viewers the chance to hear directly from politicians, celebrities, business leaders, and more.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/DPAQDnDjKSE/

Alphabet, YouTube’s parent company, had blamed the Joe Biden administration for restricting political speech.

“Senior Biden Administration officials, including White House officials, conducted repeated and sustained outreach to Alphabet and pressed the Company regarding certain user-generated content related to the COVID-19 pandemic that did not violate its policies,” the letter read.

“While the Company continued to develop and enforce its policies independently, Biden Administration officials continued to press the Company to remove non-violative user-generated content,” it continued.

Jordan cited the change as a “victory” against censorship. After Jan. 6 in 2021, Meta and Twitter banned President Trump’s Facebook accounts. YouTube suspended his account for one week. When Elon Musk bought X (then Twitter) in 2022, he reinstated Trump’s account. Meta allowed Trump back on his accounts in 2023 when he ran for President again.

YouTube’s letter made it clear: “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.”

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote a letter to Jordan last year expressing compunction for Meta’s part in censorship.

“I believe the government pressure was wrong,” Zuckerberg wrote, “and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it.”

Google also claimed the Biden administration pressured it to remove content related to COVID-19.

“It is unacceptable and wrong when any government, including the Biden Administration, attempts to dictate how” a company moderates content, Google wrote in the letter Tuesday.

Google’s lawyer said YouTube is testing a feature similar to X’s Community Notes that would allow users to provide relevant context about its videos, but it “has not and will not empower fact-checkers to take action on or label content,” Business Insider reported.

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