The policy shift represents a victory for conservative allies of U.S. President Donald Trump, who accuse online platforms of having a left-wing bias.

YouTube is preparing to reinstate creators previously banned from the platform for spreading misinformation about Covid-19 and the US election, according to a letter sent Tuesday by parent company Alphabet to a Republican lawmaker.

The policy shift represents a victory for conservative allies of U.S. President Donald Trump, who have long accused online platforms and professional fact-checkers of having a left-wing bias and using policies to combat disinformation as a pretext for censorship.

“Consistent with the company’s commitment to free expression, YouTube will offer all creators the opportunity to return to the platform if the company has removed their channels for repeated violations of the COVID-19 and election integrity policies, which are no longer in effect,” Alphabet’s legal counsel said in a five-page letter to Jim Jordan, Republican chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.

"YouTube values conservative voices"

"YouTube values conservative voices on its platform and recognizes that these creators have a large audience and play an important role in civic debate," the letter continued, without specifying which creators would be affected or when they would be able to return.

In recent years, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, White House counterterrorism chief Sebastian Gorka, and podcast host Steve Bannon have been among those banned from YouTube, according to US media reports.

Pressure from the Biden administration

In the letter, Alphabet also accuses former President Joe Biden's administration of "pressured the company" to impose the bans. In this case, the Biden administration had urged platforms to remove what it considered false and harmful information, such as content encouraging people to ingest bleach to cure Covid-19, a theory echoed by Donald Trump.

Jim Jordan, who has been paying attention to this issue for several years, hailed Alphabet's announcement on X as a "victory in the fight against censorship." "No one will ever tell Americans what to believe or not believe again," he added.

After buying Twitter, renamed X, in 2022, American billionaire Elon Musk also allowed the reinstatement on the social network of accounts conveying disinformation.