Update (8/16/24): Following the publication of this article, X22 Report’s main YouTube channel was apparently “terminated,” with YouTube replacing the channel’s videos with the message, “This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated.” Another QAnon-affiliated YouTube channel, JustInformed Talk, was also apparently reinstated around the same time as X22 Report, and has since become unavailable.

YouTube has apparently reinstated the main channel for X22 Report, a program affiliated with and popular among supporters of the harmful QAnon conspiracy theory. The apparent reinstatement of this QAnon-affiliated channel, which was removed from the platform during its October 2020 crackdown on QAnon-affiliated programs, appears to contradict the platform’s policy against such content.

In October 2020, YouTube announced that it would prohibit content that “threatens or harrasses someone by suggesting they are complicit in one of these harmful conspiracies, such as QAnon or Pizzagate.” The platform simultaneously banned numerous channels and programs affiliated with QAnon, including X22 Report, a program that has reportedly since been linked to at least one act of real-world terrorism. At time of publication, YouTube’s policies still prohibit “content that promotes harmful conspiracy theories.”

Following the ban, X22 Report continued to promote QAnon on other platforms, using QAnon to push other conspiracy theories and baseless claims about topics like the supposed political influence of the Chinese Communist Party in America and former President Barack Obama’s supposedly ongoing and secret control of Democratic Party politics.

But even though the program is still promoting QAnon, the main channel associated with X22 Report appears to have been recently reinstated on YouTube, with the channel featuring a new episode for the first time since October 2020, when it was banned.

That episode also features an icon declaring that it “includes paid promotion,” suggesting that YouTube has also allowed the program to be monetized on the platform.

YouTube’s reinstatement of this QAnon-affiliated program follows the platform’s history of difficulties when it comes to enforcing the 2020 QAnon crackdown, allowing the monetization and spread of QAnon-related content on the platform.