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A large online Christian community is calling for Google to reinstate a ban on former President Donald Trump two weeks after he quietly had his YouTube account reinstated.
Faithful America, a not-for-profit organization composed of Catholics and Protestants and others not affiliated with any church or denomination, on Tuesday posted a petition on its website to once again rid Trump from the platform. The petition hit 10,900 signatures by Thursday afternoon.
"YouTube quietly reinstated Donald Trump's account even though the twice-impeached ex-president may be more of a threat to safety and democracy now than ever before," the organization says.
Leslie Miller, YouTube's vice president of Public Policy, told NPR in a statement following Trump's reinstatement that the decision to reinstate him occurred after the company considered the possibility of him inciting actual violence.
"We carefully evaluated the continued risk of real-world violence, balancing that with the importance of preserving the opportunity for voters to hear equally from major national candidates in the run up to an election," Miller said.
Trump's Twitter account, which was suspended in January 2021, was reinstated by current owner Elon Musk in November. Trump still continues to post through his own Truth Social network.
In a letter addressed to YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, Faithful America said it was "horrified" to learn of Trump's reinstatements even after January 6 "resulted in violence, injury, and the gravest threat our democracy has faced in living memory."
"More than two years later ... Trump is still using sites like Truth Social to spread misinformation, violent rhetoric, and threats against elected officials who are simply trying to maintain the rule of law," they wrote. "There is no reason to believe he will not use YouTube in the same way."
Founded in 2004, the organization expressed similar sentiments in September when Meta executives announced they were discussing reinstating the former president on Facebook and Instagram. The group's petition received nearly 25,000 signatures, though in January Trump was allowed back on both platforms with "new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses."
Karli Thompson, digital campaign for Faithful America, told Newsweek via phone Thursday that Trump's Waco, Texas, rally risked violence.
She said in the days since Trump was reinstated, he has used his social media accounts to channel his grievances and make "threatening, inflammatory and false statements" about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in relation to the federal investigation into a hush-money case.
It was very clear that Trump "had no intention of scaling back his evil post habits and anger and tendency to convince his followers to do hateful things," she said.
Media Matters reported identifying nine YouTube channels that live-streamed Trump's campaign rally speech in Waco, where he reiterated that the 2020 election was rigged. The claims Trump made in his speech also seemingly violated the platform's election misinformation policies, said the media watchdog.
Faithful America fights for social, economic and racial justice, and supports the "Black Lives Matter" movement, immigrants, climate change policies and the LGBTQ+ community.
It is also not afraid to call out those that the organization says "hijack" Jesus' message "to serve a hateful political agenda," specifically mentioning individuals including pastors and evangelists like Mike Huckabee, Robert Jeffress and Franklin Graham.
"Unfortunately, it feels like there's a strong narrative in the press that all Christians support Donald Trump and we all share the same morals and perspectives," Thompson said. "And that's simply not the case. ... Our members feel like the Christian faith they know and love is not represented by what we see."
Newsweek has reached out to Google for comment.
About the writer
Nick Mordowanec is a Newsweek investigative reporter based in Michigan. His focus includes U.S. and international politics and policies, immigration, ... Read more