More than three years after suspending Twitch over concerns that Donald Trump would use the platform “to incite further violence” following the January 6, 2001, attack on the U.S. Capitol by far-right supporters, Twitch has changed course, reinstated his account.

“We have reinstated former President Trump's Twitch channel,” a Twitch spokesperson said in a statement provided to PC Gamer. 'Whenever possible, we believe there is value in hearing directly from a presidential candidate. Trump is now the official Republican nominee for U.S. president.

“We will continue to enforce our community guidelines and take necessary enforcement action when we identify rule violations... Twitch does not have a ‘public figure policy.’ In other words, all channels are equally subject to our guidelines, regardless of whether the channel belongs to a public figure or not.”

In January 2021, Twitch said that the “incendiary rhetoric of the President” made a moratorium necessary “to protect our community and prevent Twitch from being used to incite further violence,” but things have changed considerably since then.

This was actually the second suspension of Trump's Twitch account: the account had previously been suspended for two weeks in 2020 for violating Twitch's rules against hateful acts and harassment. 2001's suspension was the first time that Twitch later extended it “indefinitely” after Twitch said Trump's comments “continue to be interpreted as a call to action.”

Facebook and Instagram also suspended Trump's accounts immediately after the January 6 attacks. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at the time that the former president had used the platform “to incite violent riots against a democratically elected government” and that “the risk of allowing the president to continue using our services at this time is simply too great.”

The suspension was lifted in 2023, but an “enhanced suspension” was imposed to deter recidivism.

Twitch has not clarified whether the Trump campaign or some affiliated entity requested that the channel be reinstated, or whether it was simply reinstated preemptively. As it stands, the resurrection appears to have taken everyone by surprise: the channel is entirely devoid of content, and the old Trump/Pence 2020 banner remains in the background image. Mike Pence did not return as Trump's running mate in 2024, perhaps because the House Select Committee's investigation into the Capitol attack revealed that Trump had expressed support for Pence's murder during the January 6 violence.

What is clear is that Trump has not toned down his rhetoric since his defeat in the 2020 election. For example, in an April speech reported by Reuters, he referred to immigrants in the U.S. as “animals” and “not people.” Trump may never actually return to Twitch - his Twitter account was revived by Elon Musk in 2022, but remains untouched as Trump has so far chosen to stick to his Truth Social platform - but if he returns and Twitch gets serious about enforcing its community policies, I think there's a good chance it could be shut down again soon.